Maryland is undertaking a program to sign up children eligible for the state's health insurance program. It's method of finding these children? Going through tax records. The Maryland Children's Health Insurance Program (MCHP) is available to children in families under 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL). About 46% of Maryland's uninsured children are eligible for MCHP or Medicaid but not signed up.

I find it a little disturbing that the state is using taxpayer records to find eligible children. Information on tax forms is given to the state to ensure that a person is paying the correct amount in taxes. Using that information for other purposes seems a clear violation of taxpayers' privacy. Of course, while liberals howl at the privacy violations of the Bush Administration, as long as the government is violating citizens' privacy for a "good purpose" (like signing them up for government health care) then I guess it's OK.

I also wonder about the timing of this effort. It comes on the heels of Bush Administration rules that seek to ensure that states sign up 95% of children under 250% of the FPL before they can cover children above that level. Maryland has already received permission to cover kids up to 300% of the FPL, but there is some discussion that states with this high level of coverage may be impacted by the new rule. Is this effort by Maryland to sign up eligible kids an attempt to head off stricter federal scrutiny?