States see SCHIP as One Route to Covering Children

STATES SEE SCHIP AS ONE ROUTE TO COVERING CHILDREN

Volume 28, Issue 487 March 19, 2007

Anna C. Spencer

States continue to be at the forefront of efforts to expand coverage to the nation’s 47 million uninsured. At the top of many states’ lists of goals is covering children.

A growing number of states are allowing more children to participate in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by raising income eligibility levels, notes the annual State of the States report from State Coverage Initiatives (see chart for state SCHIP income eligibility levels).

For example, until recently, Connecticut’s Husky B program was the only SCHIP program in the nation that enrolled uninsured children in families with incomes above 300 percent of the federal poverty level. But in November 2005, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed the Covering All Kids Health Insurance Act, making health insurance available to all children. As of January 2007, All Kids is available to any child who has been uninsured for 12 months or more, with the cost to the family determined on a sliding scale.

Since the enactment of All Kids, a number of other states—including New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington—have taken action to provide health insurance to all the children in their states.