Enrollment for Montana’s expanded children’s health insurance plan continues to inch upward but is still far short of the 30,000 additional kids that supporters hoped for by year’s end, the latest numbers show. Healthy Montana Kids, created by a voter-passed initiative in 2008, has added about 6,600 children to government-funded health insurance plans during the first seven months of its existence. The program offers free health insurance for children in families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, or $45,800 for a family of three.

Anna Whiting Sorrell, the state’s top public health official, said late last week that she thinks the goal of adding 30,000 kids is still reachable and that her agency is mounting “some major additional outreach” to sign up more children.“It remains a top priority of the governor,” said Whiting Sorrell, director of the Department of Public Health and Human Services and an appointee of Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

“I don’t think there is anything more important we can do in Montana than to get kids health care.”

Meanwhile, Republicans who doubted the program’s need said that slow sign-ups are proving their point and that funding for Healthy Montana Kids could be a target for budget cuts next year.

Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, said Monday that he thinks many people earning above 200 percent of the federal poverty level either don’t want to be on a government program or have other means of meeting their health insurance needs.

“Was there really a need to cover those higher-income people?” he asked.

“If not, then let’s take that money out of the budget. That will absolutely be on the list of things to look at” at the 2011 Legislature.

Healthy Montana Kids expands the eligibility for both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Plan, or CHIP. The two health insurance programs are funded with state and federal money.

Voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure in November 2008 to create the expanded program, but an initiative can’t appropriate money.Democrats and the Schweitzer administration waged a tough battle to get funding through the 2009 Legislature, which was partially controlled by Republicans.

The program kicked off last October. When it began, nearly 70,000 Montana kids were covered by Medicaid and CHIP.

As of April 30 — the latest date for which complete numbers are available — that number had risen to 76,558.

Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, a supporter of the program, said she can’t understand why more families aren’t signing up for health coverage, with the economy languishing and people losing coverage or being unable to afford it.

“There needs to be an evaluation done on why we aren’t exploding at the seams with children,” she said. “What kind of outreach is being done? Maybe the strategy needs to be changed.”

The Department of Public Health and Human Services has had problems with a new computer system installed last fall and didn’t launch an advertising campaign promoting Healthy Montana Kids until late March.

Sorrell said the latest enrollment numbers probably don’t reflect a possible upturn in response to the ad campaign. And the state is planning a greater push with businesses, schools, physicians, hospitals, social-service agencies and other “enrollment partners” to help sign up eligible kids for coverage, she said.

“The more we can get one-on-one assistance to identify people who are eligible for this program, the more likely we will sign people up,” she said.

Sorrell also said some Montanans may be reluctant to sign up for what they perceive as government assistance, particularly those earning between 175 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

The number of people covered by CHIP, the program covering that income bracket, has declined by 2,500 people since the expanded program began.

Senate Minority Leader Carol Williams, D-Missoula, and a Healthy Montana Kids supporter, said she thinks it lost some momentum by not starting until October.

“I really don’t think they’ve had enough time to get this out there and let people know who’s eligible and who’s not,” she said. “It just hasn’t set in that people know about this program.”