WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- While the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program enjoys widespread support, state health officials say they are worried that the "new improved" program might include cumbersome new mandates or restrict the flexibility in health benefits built into the current program.

At a briefing Tuesday in Washington, health-policy analysts pronounced the decade-old federal/state grant program a stunning success -- plucking about 5 million U.S. children whose families make too much money to qualify for Medicaid out of the ranks of the uninsured -- and discussed how the reauthorized program should look.

Experts agreed that the renewed SCHIP program should be infused with enough funds to sustain current enrollment levels, reach the estimated 2 million additional children who are eligible for the program but are not currently enrolled and extend SCHIP to even more low-income children -- and possibly their parents. Those goals carry an estimated price tag of $50 billion over five years, analysts say...

The question of who exactly would qualify under an expanded SCHIP program is still a matter of debate. For example, some argue that SCHIP should be broadened to include the parents of low-income children...

Perhaps even trickier is the issue of covering the children of illegal immigrants under federal/state programs like SCHIP and Medicaid. The offspring of those in the country illegally are technically not eligible for either program, and even children who immigrate to the United States legally must wait five years before qualifying for healthcare assistance...

"The point is, children are not responsible for what their parents have done. They are here," said Len Nichols, director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation, who also spoke at the briefing...

For the complete article, please visit the United Press International website.