How SCHIP Effects Your Child

SCHIP is the former acronym for (State) Children's Health Insurance Program. Created by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, SCHIP was designed to provide health insurance to children in families that earned 200 percent of the federal poverty line or less. Originally, SCHIP was to be funded by a tobacco tax but this idea was eventually abandoned. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama in March, 2010, extends its present incarnation through September 2015.

Decrease the Number of Uninsured Children: The main objective of SCHIP is to decrease the number of uninsured children in the United States without drawing currently insured children out of private insurance and into this government program. However, according to an analysis of data on the SCHIP program performed by the Center for Studying Health System Change and reported in the December 2002 issue of the journal "Medical Care Research and Review", eligibility for SCHIP coverage increased the likelihood of children using Medicaid and other state coverage. The results also show the SCHIP option caused parents to withdraw their children from private insurance into the public program.

SCHIP Dental Program: The dental services available to children covered by the SCHIP program in your state prevent disease and promote oral health as well as treat emergency conditions up to the age of 19, according to information provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a result of this program, families are only required to pay for cost shared services up to 5 percent of the total income.

SCHIP Premiums: State budget troubles cause policy makers to introduce or increase premiums for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. These increases affects family budgets according to an analysis of the SCHIP program by the Department of Economics in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University. The findings, reported in the July 2010 issue of the journal "Health Economics" indicate introducing and raising premiums affects the type of coverage chosen by the parents and children transfer to lower-income and lower-premium categories of this health program.

References:
PubMed: The Effects of SCHIP on Children's Insurance Coverage
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: CHIP Dental Coverage
PubMed.gov: The Effects of SCHIP on Children's Health Insurance Coverage
AAFP: President Obama Signs Legislation Expanding SCHIP Coverage to 4 Million More Children
IP Information Center: What is SCHIP?

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