Posted February 5, 2009

FEDERAL UPDATE

US House of Representatives approves expansion of children’s health insurance

In late January 2009, the United States House of Representatives approved funding that would almost double funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP).

S-CHIP provides health insurance under the Medicaid Program to children in families who would not normally be ineligible for benefits.  Most often these families are the "working poor" whose income puts them above the Medicaid income eligibility level in their state, their employer does not offer insurance, or employer-sponsored insurance is unaffordable.

In Missouri, families with income up to 125% of poverty may enroll their children in MC+ (Missouri’s version of S-CHIP) with no costs to the family.  Families with income above 125% of poverty, but below 225%, may enroll their children but are required to pay a sliding scale premium and co-pays when they use the services. Prior to 2005, Missouri had made children in families with income up to 300% of poverty eligible to enroll.  That was changed by the state legislature in 2005 and a very complex system was put in place for charging families the premium for children’s health insurance.  In 2008, the poverty level for a family of four was $21,200.

From the state perspective, this is an important program because federal appropriations pay for approximately 72% of the costs of children’s health care under S-CHIP.  The program also provides coverage for preventive medicine and earlier treatment, thus, the total medical costs for these children is lower.