This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including Sen. Orrin Hatch, is pushing an agreement it says will save a federal health insurance program for the children of working-class families.
The state Children's Health Insurance Program had been the subject of debate between congressional Democrats who had pushed to expand the program to include millions more children, and President Bush, who accused some in Congress of trying to "federalize medicine."
But with the authorization of the program set to expire Sept. 30 and the health care of millions of children at stake, a group of legislators has agreed upon a plan they say will maintain coverage for the 6.6 million youngsters currently in the program and provide care for another 3.3 million who are uninsured.
The proposed increase will cover about a third of the nation's remaining uninsured children, according to data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
More than 110,000 children in Utah have been served by CHIP, according to 2006 report to the Legislature.
"This proposal may not be perfect, but it's a true compromise that maintains the integrity of the CHIP program and ensures that it will continue to help the millions of children who desperately need it," said Hatch in a statement released Friday evening. The Utah Republican cosponsored the original program in 1997 with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The full Senate is expected to review and vote on the bipartisan plan for program renewal later this month. - Matthew D. LaPlante