Gov. Jan Brewer and state hospital executives unveiled a proposal Monday to temporarily restore health-care coverage to tens of thousands of Arizona children.
The plan, which requires approval from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, would allow more than 19,200 children on a waiting list to enroll in KidsCare, a state-subsidized health-insurance program for low-income families.
The state froze enrollment in the program in January 2010 as part of cost-cutting to close a budget deficit. The number of children covered has since dropped to about 14,200, down from 45,820 at the time of the freeze.
There are now more than 120,000 on the program's waiting list.
The new plan was initiated by Phoenix Children's Hospital, Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the University of Arizona Health Network, which will collectively pool $113 million for each of the next two years, in order to receive $229 million in extra federal funds.
The money will help both the hospitals and the state by providing more coverage to uninsured children while getting money from Washington to offset the cost of providing care for which hospitals are not compensated.
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