KID'S HEALTHCARE IN AZ

First, the good news:

KidsCare stays alive, but premiums rise
By Jane Erikson
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona Published: 06.22.2006

About 14,000 working-poor adults will still be able to get health care from the state after this month — as long as they can afford the higher premiums.

The state Legislature continued funding next year for KidsCare Parents, despite Senate and House Appropriations committee recommendations that the program be discontinued after this month.

The bad news is that the program was almost discontinued:

Officials with the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which administers Kids-Care Parents, are grateful the Legislature agreed to continue the program, said AHCCCS spokeswoman Rainey Daye Holloway.
"At one point there was a thought not to fund any of it," Holloway said. "It was so important to make sure we keep this program going, and life is full of compromises."


The increases:

The higher premiums mean a family of four living on $30,000 a year, now paying a $45 monthly premium, will pay $75 a month starting sometime after July 1. The effective date is still to be determined, Holloway said.

If a family of four has income of $35,000, their premiums will increase from $70 to $117. And for a family of four making $40,000 a year — the maximum allowed under KidsCare Parents — premiums will go up from $85 a month to $167.