White House may soften health policy

President Bush plans to give states more flexibility to prove that they have enrolled 95% of poor children from eligible families under the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Hardly any state meets that threshold, and several states have been forced to scale back their plans to expand coverage beyond children from families at twice the poverty level. The new directive will qualify many of the 15 states that may not have met the criteria using data from the Current Population Survey, according to CMS representatives.