PeachCare for Kids to end in November

Come November, more than 270,000 children enrolled in Georgia's PeachCare program won't have health insurance.

PeachCare for Kids covers children of Georgia's working poor.

The federal legislation behind state programs like PeachCare has not been reauthorized, and Washington lawmakers have less than two weeks to get it done.

So far, the U.S. House and Senate are bickering over their different versions of the bill, and President Bush has vowed to veto either version.

Mark Trail, with Georgia's Department of Community Health, says if Washington fails to resolve this, the program has only enough money to tide over through the end of October:

“If there is no re-authorization or no action from Congress, then Georgia will send notices to the members' families, advising them that PeachCare for Kids will terminate at the end of October.”

Trail says if lawmakers fail to reach a compromise, they could still decide to continue the federal program as is, until they're ready to reauthorize it.

Governor Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson have issued statements urging Congress to resolve the issue by the September 30^th deadline.