Program to insure kids is safe, official says

Not a hair on the heads of any of the state's uninsured poor children will be harmed by Gov. Kenny Quinn's budget-cutting ax, the chief overseer of the Nevada Check-Up program said Tuesday.

Charlotte Crawford, director of the Department of Human Resources, said the state will contribute $4.7 million in matching funds under the new budget along with $8.7 million in federal money for Nevada Check-Up for the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2000.

Crawford said the program, which began on Oct. 1, has enrolled 3,600 children of low-income families for state-sponsored health insurance. State and federal funding of $6 million is keeping the program alive.

Worries arose when new estimates last fall downgraded the number of uninsured children statewide from 60,000 to between 20,000 and 25,000. There was fear that funding for the program might be cut. But Crawford said all the governor did was base the state's portion of the funding on the more realistic figures.

It's estimated that 10,000 children will be enrolled by December, which is how the $4.7 million figure came about.

Guinn said in his State of the State address Monday night that: "No child eligible for Nevada Check-Up will be turned down, and no Nevadan in need of Medicaid services will go without ... "

Children who qualify for Medicaid are required to first apply for that federal program. If they are ruled ineligible, then Nevada Check-Up will cover them.

"To put money into the budget at the higher estimate would have tied it up," Crawford said.

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