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Children's Health Insurance Program
In 1997, an estimated 11 million children in the United States were without health insurance, many living in families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid, but too low to afford private coverage. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was designed to provide health insurance to children who fell in the gap between public and private coverage.
The program was included in an omnibus budget package signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 5, 1997. Slated to cost $24 billion over five years (1998-2002), it was partially funded by a new 15 cents per pack tax on cigarettes, which was scheduled to be fully phased in by 2002. Funds for the program were turned over to the states, which were tasked with devising their own programs.
The plan's principal backers, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), hoped that it would provide health insurance to about half of the 10.6 million American children who were then lacking it. The program's actual level of success has been mixed. While nearly 2.5 million children were enrolled in SCHIP programs in the three years after implementation began, millions of children are still uninsured. Some recent studies even indicate that the number of uninsured children has increased to more than 12 million.
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- Questia: Search over 400,000 books and journals at Questia online.
- American Academy of Pediatrics - SCHIP Page
- American Public Health Association - SCHIP Page
- Children Now
- Covering Kids: National health access initiative for lowincome, uninsured children, offering information on child health outreach, enrollment, and simplification strategies.
- CSNAP Safety Net Has Powerful Impact on Babies' Health (8/5/04)
- Cyberexchange (Duke University Center for Health Policy, Law and Management)
- Families USA
- Institute for Child Health Policy
- Insure Kids Now
- Maternal and Child Health Bureau
- National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health: Research center at Georgetown University. This site includes issue papers on outreach and CHIP.
- National Maternal and Child Health Clearinghouse
- SCHIP Update Email List (American Academy of Pediatrics)
- Congress Can Preserve $1.1 Billion In Expiring Children’s Health Insurance Funds and Help Avert SCHIP Cutbacks: Nearly $1.1 billion in funds for the children's health insurance program are slated to expire September 30. These funds are needed to lessen program cutbacks in future years; bipartisan legislation has been introduced to extend the funds. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: 8/31/04 )
- Improving Children’s Health: A Chartbook About the Roles of Medicaid and SCHIP (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: 1/15/04)
- Out in the Cold: Enrollment Freezes in Six State Children's Health Insurance Programs Withhold Coverage from Eligible Children (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: 1/15/04)
- Preventing Infant Mortality (Department of Health and Human Services: March 18, 2002)
- On Their Own Young Adults Living Without Health Insurance (Commonwealth Fund: May 30, 2000)
- About.com - Health Insurance for Uninsured Children (January 11, 2000)