Administration faulted on child health plan limits

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration overreached last year when it limited states' ability to extend health coverage to moderate-income children, government auditors said in a letter released yesterday.

The auditors' opinion might not bode well for the administration as it battles multiple lawsuits challenging changes it made to the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

The policies made it harder for states to extend government-sponsored health insurance to children whose family's income exceeds 250 percent of the poverty level, or $44,000 for a family of three. Several states want to expand their programs to cover families above that income level.

The Government Accountability Office advised Senator Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia, that the administration's policy changes amounted to a rule that should have been submitted to Congress and the comptroller general before going into effect.

Nearly a decade ago, Congress passed legislation that gave it the ability to disapprove of broad regulatory rules by passing a joint resolution.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not follow the process that would allow Congress to take such action, the GAO told Rockefeller.