An Arizona House committee is set to consider a proposal restoring health insurance coverage to low-income children who used to get it from the state.
House Bill 2309 would unfreeze enrollment in what's known as KidsCare and is set for a Health Committee hearing Tuesday. The program overseen by the state's Medicaid program was frozen to new enrollment because of budget shortfalls five years ago.
The coverage known nationally as the Children's Health Insurance Program enrolled more than 63,000 children whose parents earned between 138 percent and 200 percent of the poverty line. There are fewer than 1,000 covered now. Arizona is the only state currently without an active program.
The federal government will pick up the full cost of the insurance at least through 2017.
