West Virginia's Deadline to Spend Millions on Child Health Insurance Nears.

Byline: Dawn Miller

Sep. 27--West Virginia could lose the chance to spend more than $11 million on uninsured children when the federal fiscal year ends this weekend.

The state has enrolled 11,567 children in the federal Children's Health Insurance Program, said Dot Yeager, deputy state secretary of administration. Another 14,000 children may still need health insurance, according to a consultant's estimate. The children live in families at or below 200 percent of poverty, or about $28,300 a year for a family of three.

The state pays 18 percent of the cost. The feds pay 82 percent.

Congress set aside $23.6 million a year for West Virginia's children of working poor families. The state has spent only $12 million of the first year's money at the end of August, Yeager said.

According to the federal Health Care Financing Authority, the state has spent even less than that. As of June 30, the state had spent only $8 million, HCFA says.

Whatever the number, Congress did not overestimate the amount West Virginia needed to insure low-income children, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who co-sponsored the law that created the program.