Changes to the State Children's Health Insurance Programs reported this week will not affect Utah, according to Nate Checketts, director of the Bureau of Access at the Utah Department of Health.

In a letter to state health officials, Dennis Smith, the Bush administration's point man for the SCHIP program, laid out certain criteria that states must meet before they expand insurance coverage to those families above 250 percent of the poverty level — or $42,900 for a family of three.

But Checketts said Utah does not currently provide coverage to families above 200 percent of the poverty level, so the changes won't impact Utahns.

"It's saying this is how higher-income kids should be covered. It's not a realm we've operated in yet," Checketts said.

The new directive would only impact Utah if the state sought to raise the income limit for coverage, he added.

That's been discussed as part of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s effort to make sure that all Utah children have health insurance, Checketts said. Huntsman recently announced that uninsured children were the state's top priority.

Karen Crompton, executive director of Voices for Utah Children, said the real problem is that the new directive from the Bush administration "just casts so much uncertainty about what may happen to health coverage for kids."

For example, states must establish that a child has been without insurance for a minimum of one year before the child can get coverage through SCHIP. States will also have to assure the federal government that at least 95 percent of the children eligible for the program or for Medicaid are enrolled in either of those two programs.

But, currently, no state can make such an assurance for their participation rates. The best that any state is doing is Vermont, with about 92 percent participation. So, essentially, eligibility for states' SCHIP programs would be capped at 250 percent of poverty, said health officials who examined the administration's new policy. The policy went out in the form of a letter to state health officials late Friday.

Since many families above that threshold still can't afford private insurance, "the effect of this policy is to have more uninsured kids," said Rachel Klein, deputy director of health policy for Families USA, an advocacy group.

Some 19 states, including the District of Columbia, provide health-insurance coverage to children in families with incomes above 250 percent of the poverty level, or are in the process of doing so.

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