PHOENIX — Families of four making up to $72,275 a year would be able to buy insurance coverage for their children at the same rate now paid by the state under a plan unveiled Monday by Gov. Janet Napolitano.
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This idea, she said, provides insurance at reasonable rates — but at no cost to taxpayers.
Current law provides free care for all families below the federal poverty level, currently $20,650 for a family of four. A separate program, known as Kids Care, provides nearly free care for the children of those earning twice as much.
Napolitano tried last year to raise that to three times the poverty level. But the plan proved a non-starter in the Republican-controlled Legislature and did not even get a hearing.
This new plan enables parents whose families are not eligible for Kids Care to buy coverage at the state’s cost. Gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L’Ecuyer put the figure at between $150 and $180 a month.
Only those earning up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level could sign up.
The governor’s office said eligibility would be limited to thos who are not offered health insurance at work. But it also would be available to families whose children have pre-existing medical conditions that would not otherwise be covered, or anyone who is “priced out of the private insurance market.’’
On the private sector side, Napolitano wants to mandate that all insurers continue their coverage for a family’s unmarried children until they turn 25 — even if they are working. Now, some companies drop coverage when children reach 18 or 21, or link continued coverage to a child being a full-time student.
“Young adults are the fastest growing group of uninsured in our state,’’ the governor said.
“They live lives that involve part-time and entry-level jobs tha increasingly don’t offer health benefits,’’ she continued. “They also, way too often, gamble that they will never get sick.’’
Napolitano said it is the state that loses in that gamble: When small problems become big, uninsured individuals eventually wind up with expensive problems and become eligible for free healt care from the state. She said 14 other states have similar mandates.
Napolitano also acknowledged the home mortgage crisis that is at least one cause of the state’s current deficit.
She asked lawmakers to approve new laws that protect homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgages and decide the best course of action is to sell the equity they have in their homes in exchange for a new loan.
Napolitano said some of these lenders “prey on vulnerable homeowners and use deceptive practices to cheat their out of their homes.’’
Along the same line, Napolitano wants the state to license loan officers.
At least some of the blame for the subprime mortgage meltdown has been that loan officers put home buyers into financial obligations which are not suitable and which the borrowers are unlikely to be able to make future payments.
Napolitano said licensing would require that loan officers be experienced and educated. And licensing would enable the state to revoke their permission to stay in business if they act unethically.
The governor also wants some changes to the law approved las year which allows a judge to suspend or revoke any state licenses of a firm which knowingly hires an undocumented worker.
She specifically wants to require that people who file complaints against a company be identifies “so that law enforcement does no have to waste resources chasing down anonymous calls fro malicious competitors or disgruntled employees.’’ While som counties already do that, both Maricopa and Cochise county officials have said they will accept anonymous complaints.
The governor also put in a push for lawmakers to approve her agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to creat a “3-in-1’’ license that could be used not only to drive but also as proof of citizenship to get across the border and proof of th legal right to work in this country.
Several lawmakers have objected to the measure, particularly plans to include a microchip which would contain a uniqu identification number that could be scanned to link official with any person’s data. But Napolitano stressed that obtainin the license would be voluntary.
Just The Facts
Key proposals by Gov. Janet Napolitano in her State of the State address:
- Provide free tuition at state universities and community colleges for any child who maintains a B average in high school;
- Fix the rate of at state universities for all four years;
- Raise drop-out age to 18;
- Enact new protections for homeowners against being cheated out of the equity in their houses;
- Approve regulation of mortgage loan officers;
- Require health insurers to cover children on their parents’ policy until age 25 regardless of student status;
- Allow parents to buy insurance for their children in a state program at the state’s cost;
- Prohibit anonymous complaints under state’s employer sanctions law;
- Create exceptions to loss of license under sanctions law fo firms that provide “vital infrastructure’’ like nursing homes and hospitals;
- Forbid use of proceeds seized by prosecutors in racketeering cases for publicity for elected officials;
- Appropriate additional funds for more Child Protective Services caseworkers;
- Approve alternate “3-in-1’’ state driver license;
- Put a measure on the ballot this year or next to fund transportation improvements with new taxes;
- Approve a Tucson-Phoenix passenger rail line;
- Enact statewide conservation standards for new construction;
- Address “greenhouse gas’’ emissions with energy efficiency standards for appliances;
- Allow law enforcement to prosecute property managers who rent out homes as “drop houses’’ for illegal immigrants;
- Enact a yet-to-be finalized plan to reform how state trust lands are managed and sold off.
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