The Senate Finance Committee has adopted an amendment from a New Jersey senator, adding a child-only health plan to a proposed health insurance exchange.

Robert Menendez

Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, offered the amendment as the committee continues its markup of the America’s Health Future Act, proposed by its chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). The amendment creates plans just for children to ensure that those whose families face financial or other hardships can access affordable care, he said in a statement. Without the option, Menendez noted, children might have been forced to purchase adult insurance or forgo health coverage altogether.

“We need to think about children from families who might not otherwise be able to afford coverage, about children aging out of the foster care system or growing up with their grandparents, and about children with parents whose employers do not offer dependent coverage,” the senator said. “These children deserve every opportunity to reach their potential, and that includes having the coverage to ensure a healthy childhood.”

Menendez said under the America’s Health Future Act, in order for children to access benefits under the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), they must first be enrolled in private coverage. The amendment helps ensure that coverage, he said.

In addition, under Baucus’ plan, tax credit and subsidy determinations are made using taxpayer information, so even if a child could access a child-only policy in the proposed exchange, Menendez said it is “unclear” how children would qualify as they do not file income tax returns.

His amendment addresses this issue by directing the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to determine whether alternative means, such as direct subsidies to the exchanges, are necessary to aid coverage for qualified children.