Source: Gregoire's budget cuts kids' health increases

OLYMPIA — State payments for disabled people who can't work and plans to increase health coverage for kids will be among the spending cuts in Gov. Christine Gregoire's budget proposal, a senior state official has told The Associated Press.

The two cost-cutting moves are just part of Gregoire's plans, and alone would not save enormous amounts of money, compared with a budget deficit that Gregoire has said could reach $6 billion.

But rollbacks in those two programs likely signal the type of spending reductions Gregoire is planning in her budget, which has been advertised as a no-new-taxes plan for solving the shortfall.

The Democratic governor plans to unveil her proposal Thursday. The official spoke to the AP about the program cuts Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment publicly on Gregoire's budget. Gregoire spokesman Pearse Edwards declined to comment.

Democrats have made taxpayer-aided health care for kids a major priority in recent years, and the state is officially on record as pledging to help cover all children by 2010. But Gregoire apparently sees a suspension of those plans as a necessary hardship amid falling tax revenues.

The state official told AP that Gregoire would suspend plans to increase child health coverage to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, which is about $64,000 a year for a family of four.

That plan was part of a bill Gregoire signed into law in 2007. It would charge premiums on a sliding scale and is set to take effect next year, although the program always was conditioned on the Legislature budgeting enough money to pay for it. As enacted, officials said it would extend coverage to more than 8,000 children.

The state official said cuts will be made to another program, referred to as General Assistance-Unemployable, which gives cash grants to disabled people who cannot work.

Advocates for the program warned earlier Wednesday that it could be targeted for "drastic reductions" in Gregoire's budget.

According to a list provided by Columbia Legal Services, more than 15,000 people got the benefits in King County in 2006-2007, at a cost of more than $33 million. Smaller amounts were spent in other counties across the state.