Joe Nunez, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Mark Gilbert, regional administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, said they flew in from Denver to personally assure Montana leaders that the federal government does not want to do away with the program and to find out what kinds of backup plans states have in the works should the program expire.
The two flew in and out of Helena on Friday, spending roughly eight hours getting to and from Montana for a meeting that lasted less than half an hour. Gilbert said he didn't know how much their airline tickets cost, but online airline ticket seller Orbitz.com estimated that two round-trip tickets from Denver to Helena purchased during the week on short notice would cost $1,100 to $1,400 per person.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/09/29/news/state/20-schip.txt