CHIP bill no longer on the table

Children's health care measure, along with windstorm insurance plan, dies as session's end nears
By R. G. RATCLIFFE - Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau - May 29, 2009
AUSTIN — Lawmakers entered the endgame of the 81st Legislature Thursday still struggling to avoid a special session on windstorm insurance — while also trying in vain to salvage expansion of health care for low-income Texas children.

Gov. Rick Perry suggested Thursday that he might veto the Children’s Health Insurance Program bill, assuming it survived the legislative maze necessary to reach his desk. The bill would make available subsidized health insurance for an additional 80,000 Texas children by raising eligibility for CHIP to 300 percent of poverty, or a maximum income of $66,540 a year for a family of four.

“I would probably not be in favor of that expansion, even if it came to my desk. The members know that,” Perry said. “That’s not what I consider to be a piece of legislation that has the vast support of the people of Texas.”

CHIP and windstorm insurance reform were among hundreds of measures killed earlier this week by an extended House debate of minor bills to avoid controversial voter identification legislation. The Senate worked until about 3 a.m. Thursday reviving many of the dead bills, like CHIP, by putting them on other bills as amendments.
‘We have the money’

Then late Thursday, the House sent the bill back to the Senate, claiming the CHIP provision to revive the amendment was not germane, all but killing it.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he believes there may be ways to resurrect the measure one more time, if the House will agree by a two-thirds vote.

“We have the money in the budget for CHIP,” Dewhurst said. The program is expected to cost the state $43.2 million over the next two years, but draw in 72 cents in federal money for every dollar spent.

Perry has told lawmakers he will call a special legislative session if the windstorm insurance bill does not pass. The governor, whose political fund has received $205,000 from the insurance industry since he took office, declared the windstorm insurance reform an emergency item in 2007 and again this year.

Hurricanes Ike and Dolly in 2008 busted the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association with an expected $2 billion in payouts. TWIA provides windstorm insurance for homeowners who cannot find private coverage — which includes all of 14 coastal counties and part of Harris County.

Perry denied pressuring lawmakers to settle TWIA.

“We are working to get a solution,” Perry said. “Whether I would put it into the ‘applying pressure’ category, we just speak truth to power.”

The outcome of the debate could determine whether the TWIA rates go up significantly.

“The problem is, who is going to pay for it? And that’s why it’s a statewide issue,” said House sponsor Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood.
Small companies fearful

Insurance companies want the system reformed because under current law they can be hit with unlimited assessments to make TWIA solvent. Though they would get tax credits from the state, they claim it could force small insurance companies into insolvency.

But the Senate’s approach to the problem could cause insurance rates to rise as much as 40 percent for TWIA customers. The House would raise TWIA rates, but in the case of a major catastrophe homeowners across Texas would have to subsidize the costs.

“If you’re helping the coastal people too much, the inland people start squawking,” state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, said. “If you charge the insurance companies too much, then there are people who say you are hurting the viability of the insurance market.”

House negotiator Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, said lawmakers may not have time to reach a consensus.

“It’s still a little bit of a long shot,” Smithee said.

San Antonio Express-News reporter Gary Scharrer contributed to this story.
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