Washington - President Barack Obama has reversed a Bush administration directive that would have effectively limited state children's health insurance programs and would have resulted in health coverage being taken away from thousands of children in states with robust programs, like New Jersey. U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Finance Committee, was a leading opponent of the directive, which was originally issued on August 17, 2007, and today praised President Obama's move.
"The Obama administration is demonstrating that it understands the financial realities for families in high-cost of living states like ours, particularly during this economic crisis," said Senator Menendez. "This was a cold-hearted directive that would have tossed thousands of children back into the health care black hole between Medicaid and private insurance. President Obama and the new Congress are bringing about change in our health care system that will help ensure that no child goes to sleep at night without health insurance in the greatest country in the world."
The Bush administration's rule change would have altered federal policy by issuing a new directive to states that effectively prevents the coverage of uninsured children if their family income is more than 2.5 times the federal poverty limit. New Jersey, which covers children up to 3.5 times the federal poverty limit would have been included.
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