Montana Governor Wants Medical Coverage for All Children in the State.

As in so many States and the country in general, there are millions of children in the State of Montana that are currently without access to affordable medical coverage or any kind of health insurance. And as is true throughout other parts of the country, there are programs in place for these children, yet it is estimated that in Montana more than 6 million children of families who do qualify for the state run Children's Health Insurance Program are not enrolled. Montana Governor Max Bacus is asking for over 50 million dollars in additional funding for the program over the next 5 years that would cover all of those children if they were to enroll in the program.

The Children's State Health Insurance Program is a federally run program in which the Federal Government works with states to provide funding for families with children who do not qualify for Medicaid, but do not earn enough to afford medical insurance on their own. The program expires in September. The Federal Government now allocates $5 billion a year for the program, and as part of its plan to see that all children in the US are insured by 2012, the administration has asked for an additional $4.8 billion over five years. The White House also says there is almost $4 billion that has not been spent during the program's first 10 years that could be carried over, yet congressional Democrats say that the real number is at least $12 billion over five years to cover just all of those who are currently enrolled. The program this year faces nearly a $750 million shortfall.

The health insurance program with a current a budget of about 40 billion dollars over the next 10 years actually provides medical coverage to about 640,000 adults. Republican administrators have suggested that the program do just what it was intended to do and only cover children. By eliminating the coverage for the adults in the program, at least all of the currently uninsured children could have medical coverage. But Democratic Governors like Bacus do not agree, said Bacus "I don't think we should increase the number of uninsured" Bacus added that he doesn't know where the money will come from, but that "We will find a way"

Democratic leaders in Congress have said they may elect to add money to an upcoming war-spending bill to help states cover temporary shortfalls under the program. And two House Republicans introduced a bill designed to cover this year's $750 Million shortfall in the SCHIP Program. Texas Representative Joe Barton, Georgia Representative. Nathan Deal said the heart of the bill is designed to up holes in the current program and crack down on overspending and fraud in some states.