In November 2005, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) signed the Covering ALL KIDS Health Insurance Act which will make insurance coverage available to all uninsured children by 2007. Several other governors also have proposed similar initiatives targeted at covering all children in their states.

Governor Jim Doyle (D) from the neighboring state of Wisconsin focused his state of the state address in mid-January on making health care more affordable and accessible. In his speech, Governor Doyle proposed extending the state’s Medicaid program, BadgerCare, to all children who are uninsured by next year.  The BadgerCare Plus program would allow families whose income exceeds current income eligibility limits to buy BadgerCare coverage for their children.

Governor Ted Kulongoski (D) from Oregon also proposed an initiative to insure all children in his state.  In late February, the Governor announced the Healthy Kids Plan for which all Oregon children will be eligible.  The core components of the Healthy Kids Plan include:

·        Continued expansion of school-based health centers;

·        Improvement and expansion of access to the state’s Medicaid and SCHIP programs; and

·        Expansion of health care coverage for kids by giving parents with higher incomes (too high to qualify for federal programs) the opportunity to buy affordable, state-subsidized group coverage for their children.

Similarly, from the beginning of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire’s (D) term, she has outlined her vision for guaranteeing every child has health insurance by 2010. In addition, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) proposed the goal of insuring all children under five years of age in his January 2006 Year of the Child initiative.

While many of the initiatives still need to be developed in greater detail, it is clear that momentum is building in a number of states to ensure that all children have access to health care coverage.  With the Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) up for reauthorization by 2008, additional efforts by states to reach all children may have certain programmatic impacts on this critical program.