
HOME	NEWS	EVENTS	TAKE ACTION	JOIN VOICES	PARTNER NEWS & EVENTS

Home > Child Physical & Behavioral Health > State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

	CMS Directive Information
	More SCHIP Information and Resources
	DC Hill and Columbus Policy Briefing on Medicaid/SCHIP

State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

Governor Ted Strickland Testifies in Support of SCHIP before Congress

Governor Strickland testified in support of the state-federal partnership that makes Medicaid and SCHIP. The testimony calls for Congress to: eliminate the August 17th CMS directive; prohibit CMS directives that limit state’s abilities to serve needy children and their families; and provide federal matching funds to states. Governor Strickland underscored the need for strong reauthorization of the SCHIP program so that state’s could serve more uninsured children.

SCHIP Funding in the Year Ahead: Implications of the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act

It appears that many states across the country have substantial federal SCHIP funding available to them for pursuing plans to enroll more already eligible children and expanding eligibility to more uninsured children. States still will need to determine whether they have the state resources with which to cover more children, as well as to navigate the August 17th CMS directive that makes it more difficult to cover uninsured children in moderate-income families. However, in all but a handful of cases, states have significant federal resources to cover more uninsured children in the short-term. In the long-term, the history of SCHIP indicates that the federal government will continue to support the SCHIP program and provide states with the federal funding needed to allow it to continue.

The Center for Children and Families released, "SCHIP Funding in the Year Ahead: Implications of the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act". This 8 page report analyzes the SCHIP financing provisions in the Extension Act, provides the SCHIP funding levels available for each state, and explores the implications for ongoing and future state efforts to cover children.

SCHIP National Enrollment Data

Based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), more than 7.7 million people received coverage from the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in FY2007. Approximately 7.1 million of these were children (under age 19), an
increase of roughly 393,000 (6%), compared to FY2006. Adult SCHIP enrollees in FY2007 numbered approximately 587,000, a decrease of nearly 114,000 (16%), compared to FY2006. The CMS data permit state-level analyses of enrollees by income-eligibility level. The SCHIP statute defines a “low-income child” as those at or below 200% of poverty, but states can also cover children at higher income levels. This memorandum provides FY2007 state level estimates of child enrollees in SCHIP with family income up to 200% of poverty, those who are above 200% of poverty, and the number of adult SCHIP enrollees.

CMS Sign-on Letter

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has helped uninsured children in Ohio and across the nation to obtain health care coverage for over a decade. The uninsured rate for Ohio children declined from 9.8% in 1998 to 5.4% in 2004, due in large part to Ohio’s successful Medicaid/SCHIP program

Last summer Ohio’s bipartisan leaders passed a bill to expand coverage to thousands more of Ohio’s uninsured children. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has denied Ohio’s request to expand coverage to more children; Ohio is in the process of seeking a revised expansion through a State Plan Amendment (SPA). Despite strong leadership in Columbus, federal regulations are blocking Ohio’s progress toward covering more kids.

Ohio advocates joined together to send a letter to communicate the damaging effects this bureaucratic red tape imposed by CMS will have on Ohio’s children. The CMS Sign on Letter was sent in March of 2008 to the entire Ohio Congressional Delegation.

If you would like us to keep you informed about CMS regulations on Medicaid/SCHIP, please send your contact information to: info@vfc-oh.org.

Together, we can raise our Voices with Ohio’s congressional leaders to eliminate these damaging regulations.

View more information about the CMS Directive.