Bush wants to set a limit, discouraging states from covering uninsured children in families with incomes exceeding $50,000. The administration recently denied a request by New York to extend help to families earning as much as $80,000.
At his news conference Thursday, Bush said of the bill in Congress: "Their proposal would result in taking a program meant to help poor children and turning it into one that covers children in households with incomes of up to $83,000 a year. . . . The proposal would move millions of American children who now have private health insurance into government-run healthcare."
But Hatch told reporters Friday that the congressional plan did no such thing, and would actually discourage states from providing help to families with incomes that high. "It is true that some of the most expensive states have wanted that to be the case, but it is not true [about] our bill," he said. "That was one of the mistakes in the press conference."
The final language of the bill will not be available until Monday. A summary released Friday said the plan would allow states to expand coverage to uninsured children in families earning up to about $60,000 for a family of four.
Schwarzenegger is among those governors advocating coverage up to that income level.
"They are definitely dug in" at the White House, said Mark McClellan, a former administration official who, as Medicare administrator, oversaw the children's program.
"My hope would be that after the veto fight, there is a broad effort to find a solution."
"I think, in the end, the White House would probably agree to significantly more money," he said. "The battle is over the best way to provide coverage for families at higher income levels."
One possible compromise would be to subsidize private coverage, on a sliding scale, for uninsured children in some middle-class families, he said.
Congress would face an uphill struggle to overturn a presidential veto of the bill, Hatch said, and would probably pass a temporary extension of the current program.
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ricardo.alonso-zaldivar @latimes.com
