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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Legislators in Hawaii Will Attempt to Reopen Keiki Care

By Ethan Kalvin

The Keiki Care plan, Hawaii's free health insurance for it's children, was discontinued last year by Republican Governor Linda Lingle. Her issues were that is caused budget problems because some Hawaiians were choosing the free plan over available individual plans.

According to Linda Smith, the governors senior policy advisor, the plan allowed families to have free health insurance when they could afford their own policy. It became a public expense, like a public subsidy.

The Associated Press reports that the Democratic controlled Legislature in Hawaii is proposing to reopen Keiki Care. Their plan is to increase funding for the program of child health insurance by adding to different spending bills. That way is is not a single funding bill that the Governor could veto.

The Governor can keep the additional funds held back from these additional bills, and she has continuing opposition to providing free insurance coverage for people who could afford it if they had to purchase insurance.

There then remains the ongoing philosophical health insurance struggle.

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