2001.10.05:HHS Approves Mississippi Plan to Speed Up SCHIP Enrollment

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, Oct. 5, 2001

Contact:

CMS Press Office
(202) 690-6145

HHS APPROVES MISSISSIPPI PLAN TO SPEED UP SCHIP ENROLLMENT

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today approved a plan by Mississippi to speed up enrollment for children in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

"Getting medical care to children as quickly as possible makes sense for Mississippi's families," Secretary Thompson said. "We are committed to giving states the flexibility that they need to make this kind of change to improve access to health care for children and families alike."

The amendment would allow the state to grant immediate enrollment for children in families whose income is at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which works out to $35,300 annually for a family of four. This provision, called "presumptive eligibility," will allow children to begin receiving coverage for medical services immediately upon application rather than waiting while the state processes and verifies information received from the family. The state will continue to verify eligibility, but for families who appear to meet the requirements, enrollment is immediate. The amendment is retroactive to
July 1, 2001.

SCHIP is bipartisan legislation enacted in 1997. The SCHIP law appropriates $40 billion over 10 years to help states expand health insurance to children whose families earn too much for traditional Medicaid, yet not enough to afford private insurance. SCHIP gives states three options for devising a plan to cover uninsured children: designing a new children's health insurance program; expanding Medicaid; or a combination of both strategies. HHS must approve any amendment to a state's SCHIP program.

Mississippi has a combination plan. This amendment affects the separate SCHIP portion of its program. The state expects to have 45,000 children enrolled in its SCHIP program by the end of fiscal 2002.

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