Automatically Enrolling Eligible Children and Families Into Medicaid and SCHIP
Commonwealth Fund.
Sixty-two percent of uninsured children and two-thirds of uninsured, poor parents qualify for publicly funded health coverage programs but are not enrolled.
This study assesses the potential impact of automatically enrolling children and parents in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) based on determinations of other means-tested programs.
Current law permits states to cover some uninsured parents based on information in their children's Medicaid case files.
However, current federal law forbids states from providing Medicaid or SCHIP based on the final income determinations of non-health agencies---the type of auto-enrollment that could reach eligible children.
For such auto-enrollment to succeed, federal policymakers need to provide states with additional flexibility in determining eligibility and new resources for investing in information technology.
Medicare Part B, into which seniors are enrolled automatically unless they decline participation, covers 96 percent of eligible seniors.
By contrast, the Medicare Savings Programs, for which low-income seniors must apply to receive assistance with cost-sharing and premiums, reach no more than 33 percent of the eligible population.
Since 1991, school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have had the option to provide free meals based on direct certification, through which children receive NSLP based solely on the findings of Food Stamp and cash assistance programs.
Among poor parents who are uninsured, 83 percent either live in a family participating in a means-tested nutrition program or have a child who receives Medicaid.
Under the MMA, subsidies go to certain low-income Medicare beneficiaries, with automatic coverage for seniors who participate in MSP.
