This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.

News Release

SCHIP ENROLLMENT CLIMBS TO 5.3 MILLION CHILDREN IN 2002

About 5.3 million children who otherwise would not have health coverage were enrolled in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) at some point during fiscal year 2002 -- a 15 percent increase from the previous year, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced today.

"Working with governors, we've made tremendous progress in reaching millions of children with needed health coverage," Secretary Thompson said. "Since President Bush took office, we have given states more flexibility and freedom to develop SCHIP plans that best meet the needs of their residents. The strategy is working for children across America, but we must and will do more."

During fiscal year 2002, a total of 5.3 million children were enrolled in SCHIP at some point, according to the latest figures from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That compares with 4.6 million children in fiscal year 2001.

Created in 1997 with bipartisan support in Congress, SCHIP is a state and federal partnership designed to help children without health insurance, many of whom come from working families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private health insurance. The SCHIP law appropriated $40 billion in federal funds over 10 years to improve children's access to health coverage. HHS approved the first SCHIP plan, in Alabama, five years ago last week.

The 2002 enrollment statistics, prepared by HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS), is consistent with a recent HHS statistical report showing a higher percentage of American children had health insurance in the first half of 2002. The report from HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more children rely on public coverage, such as SCHIP, for their health insurance.

The SCHIP law originally required states that did not use their full SCHIP allotment during the previous three years to return the unused funds. However, President Bush's fiscal year 2004 budget proposal would make an estimated $830 million in unused SCHIP funds available to states to give states more time to take advantage of those funds and expand coverage further. The money otherwise would return to the federal treasury at the end of fiscal year 2003.

Since taking office, Secretary Thompson has worked to improve access to health care through innovative coverage programs in the SCHIP and Medicaid programs. Since January 2001, HHS has approved more than 2,500 SCHIP and Medicaid waivers and plan amendments that have expanded eligibility to about 2.4 million people and enhanced benefits for about 6.5 million people.

In August 2001, HHS launched the Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability Demonstration Initiative to make it simpler and easier for states to coordinate SCHIP and Medicaid plans and to submit waiver requests and to have those requests promptly considered.

"We continue to work with states to assure that uninsured children enroll in SCHIP and Medicaid," CMS Administrator Tom Scully said. "As a result, we are now seeing more children with access to health care. Secretary Thompson and I will continue to do all we can to strengthen this program so states can cover more children in the future."

SCHIP enrollment numbers by state will be available later today at http://www.cms.gov/schip.

###

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: January 24, 2003