By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – The federal health insurance program for poor children called SCHIP is up for reauthorization later this year.
Both the House and Senate have earmarked an additional $50 billion for the program.
Senator Claire McCaskill says that would mean about $967 million over five years for Missouri if the state puts up the matching funds.
But the Missouri Democrat says cuts made two years ago to the state's version of SCHIP need to be reversed to take advantage of additional funding.
"Missourians need to realize that if Congress authorizes this money, this money will be available to all the states, so do they really want our share of the money to go to other states, and that's the question they need to be asking Governor Blunt," McCaskill said.
But a Missouri Department of Family Services spokeswoman says the state funding for the program actually increased from 2005 to 2007.
The federal government spends $2.72 for each dollar a state spends on the
SCHIP program.