A couple weeks ago, the Bush Administration, via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) promulgated new rules affecting eligibility requirements to which states must adhere in the administration of their SCHIP programs. On Friday, New York became the first state to be denied an exemption. WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 — The Bush administration on Friday rejected a request from New York State to expand its children's health insurance program to cover 70,000 more uninsured youngsters, including some from middle-income families. The ruling was the first application of a restrictive new White House policy that has drawn ferocious criticism from Democrats since it was announced last month. New York wanted to expand its program to cover children in families with incomes up to four times as much as the federal poverty level, or $82,600 for a family of four. The state's current limit is 250 percent of the poverty level. The new rules contain two provisions that are, well, just plain mean. The first new rule mandates that at least 95% of all eligible children living in families earning below 200% of the poverty line must be enrolled in the state's SCHIP program before the state can enroll children children living in families earning more than 200% of the poverty line. So far, exactly zero states have met this requirement. This pretty much limits states to enrolling only children living in families earning below the 200% threshold. The second rule is completely mendacious. It says that before a child living in family earning more than 250% of the poverty line must be without health insurance for an entire year before that child is eligible for SCHIP coverage. Yes, you read that right. President Bush wants children to go at least a year without health insurance.