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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Senate Takes Up Health of Kids in CO and Nationwide in 'Sick' Economic Times

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Monday, January 26, 2009   

Denver, CO - The economy in Colorado and across the nation has caught a serious cold -- if not pneumonia -- but the Senate is expected to move this week to at least help keep pregnant women and families with children healthy during these tough times. Lawmakers are debating a bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), which helps provide coverage for children whose families don't qualify for Medicaid but still aren't affluent enough to buy health insurance.

Adela Flores-Brennan with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy says soaring unemployment has made the need for the program more pressing than ever.

"People are losing their work and they're also losing their employer-sponsored insurance, and often people can't afford to pay their COBRA payment to keep their insurance going."

A one-percent jump in unemployment nationally can mean loss of coverage for up to a million Americans, she adds.

One sticking point in both House and Senate versions of the bill is a clause that would require a five-year waiting period for children of legal immigrants to enroll in S-CHIP. Republicans want to balk at eliminating the waiting period because of concerns that could encourage immigration, but Flores-Brennan disagrees.

"These people are in the country legally, and the waiting period creates a huge disparity in health care and a huge disadvantage for people who have done everything right."

While the two versions of the bill differ slightly, Flores-Brennan notes passage would mean a roughly 36 percent increase in the amount of S-CHIP funds coming to Colorado, providing a big boost here and nationwide.

"Overall in the entire country, that would allow us to insure 4 million previously uninsured children."

Congress passed a similar reauthorization of the program in 2007, but it was vetoed by President Bush, who cited concerns about costs and fairness to private insurers. The House version of the S-CHIP bill passed last week.

Debate on the Senate version is expected to start late today. Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid says he expects the bill to pass by the end of the week.




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