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Eligible but Not Enrolled : How SCHIP Reauthorization Can Help |
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From Urban Institute: More than 6 in 10 uninsured children qualify for Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) but are not enrolled. For example, Medicare now uses government data to identify eligible, low-income seniors and provide them with subsidies for prescription drugs and other benefits. SCHIP reauthorization could give Medicaid and SCHIP the flexibility to use similar methods for enrolling eligible, low-income children. More than six in 10 uninsured children qualify for Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) but are not enrolled. Although controversy surrounds many aspects of SCHIP reauthorization, leaders across the political spectrum agree on the need to cover these children. Child health coverage programs now reach 79 percent of their target population---more than any other traditional, means-tested program. Since the enactment of SCHIP in 1997, states have intensively pursued a decade of outreach efforts and streamlining of application procedures, with positive results---but non-traditional methods may now be required to reach the remaining children who qualify for coverage but are not enrolled. For child health programs to move substantially beyond current enrollment levels, SCHIP reauthorization will need to offer states the flexibility to use similar data-driven methods like those Medicare now employs to help low-income seniors.
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