State Children’s Health Insurance Program – Texas

Children’s insurance program rebounds, but more cuts feared, By Robert T. Garrett, May 7, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Seven years ago, state leaders working to close a $9.9 billion budget gap took a hatchet to government health insurance for children of the working poor. Thousands of children paid the price when officials tightened eligibility rules and whacked dental, vision and mental health benefits. Gradually, benefits were restored to the Children’s Health Insurance Program and, this month, enrollment reached roughly the same level as in 2003. But CHIP proponents fear the program could be on the block again as lawmakers face an even bigger shortfall – maybe $15 billion – as they write the next two-year budget in their upcoming session. The new federal health care law has limited the state’s ability to cut too deeply into CHIP…”