Nevada among states that couldn’t use up child health insurance funds

Thursday, July 20, 2000 | 11:07 a.m.

The funding, provided in 1998 is used for the Nevada Check Up program which provides comprehensive health coverage to children in families that make too much to qualify for welfare but not enough to buy health coverage.

The catch is any money not used in three years goes away.

John Yacenda, chief of Nevada Check Up, said the reason Nevada didn't use up the more than $30 million available to it in 1998 was that it took most of that year to create and start the program.

"The only thing Nevada was doing during federal fiscal year 1998 was putting out applications, accepting applications and getting ready to begin enrollment," he said. "There was no service delivery program in federal fiscal 1998."

Now, however, he says the program is up and running with about 12,000 children enrolled and receiving benefits that include health coverage, dental and vision care.

Yacenda said the federal government will get back some of Nevada's allotted funding next year as well because the enrollment was still small in 1999.

"We anticipate that less and less money will be returned in each subsequent year," he said. "We're having enrollment increases now because the program is starting to take hold. People are happy with it and they're telling friends, co-workers and neighbors."

Most of the other states on the list will surrender far more money than Nevada - including California at $592 million and Texas at more than $443 million.

To make sure states set up programs that would help children, Congress won't allow the cash to be hoarded.

The original legislation said that money would be redistributed among the states that used all their grant money - which would be a huge windfall for the 13 states in the South and on the East Coast which did so.

But there have been several other suggestions, including a provision in the Senate version of the 2001 health care budget that would rescind the surplus. That would let Congress spend the money anywhere else.

Yacenda said another suggestion was to turn the money back to the states for special, one-time projects and enhancements for low-income children.