The Bush administration just approved Indiana’s plan to expand its Medicaid and SCHIP programs. According to the administration’s press release:

[The Healthy Indiana Plan] was approved as a Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration project and will extend health insurance to low-income parents of children now covered by Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), as well as childless adults. To be eligible for coverage, enrollees’ incomes must not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), or $20,420 for an individual and $41,300 for a family of four.

Enrollment in the plan will give participants access to a high-deductible health plan that includes an account patterned on the model of a health savings account. To assist with out-of-pocket costs incurred prior to the coverage threshold, both the individual and the state will make contributions to a Personal Wellness and Responsibility (POWER) account. Participant contributions to the POWER account will be set on a sliding scale based on ability to pay, but at no more than five percent of gross family income. Any funds remaining in the account at the end of the year can be rolled-over to offset the following year’s contributions if age-appropriate preventative services are obtained.

Think of it as government-run health care, with a little welfare check thrown in.

And what ever happened to the administration’s protests about SCHIP funds going to adults rather than children?