Christie eyes curb on Medicaid rolls

Gov. Christie plans to seek approval for a proposal that would deny Medicaid coverage to adults in a family of four with an annual household income of little more than $6,000, down from the current $30,000.

A single mother raising three children who earned as little as $118 a week would not qualify for the government-funded medical coverage.

The eligibility-requirement change, which must be cleared by the Obama administration and would apply only to new adult Medicaid applicants, would follow Christie's eliminating - for the second year - a long-standing line item that would provide nearly $7.5 million in funding to family-planning clinics.

A 26-13 vote to restore the aid was passed in the state Senate on Monday, but was one vote short of a veto-proof majority.

The measure, which received some GOP support, also would require the state to expand Medicaid coverage for family planning and women's health care for the poor. It would be eligible for $9 in federal money for every $1 invested by the state. Christie has vetoed similar proposals in the past.

On Monday, Democrats linked Christie's opposition to funding the family-planning clinics - which provide a range of health-care services - and his attempt to all but freeze future Medicaid enrollments, which experts say would disproportionately affect poor mothers, as part of a larger "war against women" by the Republican governor.

"Who's going to raise the children if the family, the mothers and the fathers, can't have health care?" Sen. Shirley Turner (D., Mercer) asked at Monday's Senate hearing.

Christie has said his cut to family-planning clinics is a fiscal issue unrelated to his personal antiabortion beliefs. The funding sought by legislators could not be used for abortions.

The clinics are a source for Pap smears, breast-cancer screening, and STD treatment, according women's health advocates. Since the first cut last year, six of the state's 58 family-planning centers have closed.

In joining Democrats to reinstate the funds - which advocates said could come from a windfall in tax collections the state treasurer revealed last week - Republican Sen. Diane Allen (R., Burlington) cited two clinics that have closed in her county, and warned that eliminating access to cancer screenings "may cost women their lives." Dawn Addiego (R., Burlington) was the only female senator to vote against the bill.