Application process delays children’s insurance program

AUGUSTA — A new health insurance program to provide coverage to thousands of poor children will be delayed because the state has not yet applied for the needed federal money, lawmakers say.

The Department of Human Services, which is preparing the application, says a delay was inevitable because the Legislature did not create the program until April 7, and Gov. Angus King did not sign it into law until April 16. However, the agency says any delay will be minimal.

Sen. Susan Longley of Liberty and Rep. J. Elizabeth Mitchell of Portland, who helped create the program, said Wednesday the state should have applied for federal aid sooner. The application should have been in by the end of April to get the money in time to start the program by July 1.

“I think it’s very unfortunate” the application has not been filed, Mitchell said. “We are trying to get insurance to children who need it.”

At issue is the launch of a $16 million program that will use federal and state money to provide health insurance for about 15,000 children of working parents who have no insurance but are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

The state will provide about $4 million of the $16 million, with the remaining $12 million coming from the federal Health Care Finance Administration. Receipt of the federal money is still months away because the state has yet to ask for it and federal law gives HCFA three months to rule on applications.

Mitchell said the state set aside money for the program last year and it was clear last winter that the Legislature would create the program. So DHS could have applied for federal aid long before King signed the bill into law, she said.

Francis Finnegan, a top official at DHS, said his agency began working on the application before the law was enacted but officials could not complete the application until the insurance program took final form. He said the state plans to file the application in two weeks.

About half of the 15,000 affected children should be insured by Aug. 1 in anticipation of federal funds, Finnegan said. The rest may be insured by September, once the federal money comes in.