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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: HCFA Press Office
(202) 690-6145

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced approval of Iowa's plan to expand health coverage for thousands of uninsured children through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Iowa could receive as much as $32 million this year in new funds under the federal CHIP program -- the historic, bipartisan legislation signed last year by President Clinton. The CHIP law allocates $24 billion over the next five years to help states expand health insurance to children whose families earn too much for traditional Medicaid, yet not enough to afford private health insurance. Iowa officials estimate they will insure 10,000 children by January 1, 1999.

Iowa is the 32nd CHIP plan to be approved in the 11 months since CHIP funds have been available. Together, these 31 states and Puerto Rico anticipate providing health insurance coverage for more than two million currently uninsured children within the next three years. Kansas and Delaware CHIP plans were also approved today, bringing the total plans approved to 34, including 33 states and Puerto Rico.

"It is gratifying to see so many states taking advantage of this wonderful new program to help working parents obtain health insurance for their children," Secretary Shalala said. "The Clinton Administration and the states are working together to give children the health care they need to live longer, healthier lives. That's good for all of us."

CHIP gives states three options for devising a plan to cover uninsured children: designing a new children's health insurance program; expanding current Medicaid programs; or a combination of both strategies. HHS must approve each state's plan before CHIP funds become available.

Iowa will use its CHIP allocation to expand Medicaid by raising income eligibility in several different age categories. The CHIP expansion will allow children from age six to 18 with income up to 133 percent of poverty to enroll. The Medicaid benefit package will apply and there will be no charge to families. The state Medicaid program currently covers infants up to one year of age whose families have incomes of up to 185 percent of poverty (the federal poverty level for a family of four is $16,450). Children ages one through five are eligible for Medicaid if their family income does not exceed 133 percent of poverty. Children ages 6 through 14 can participate if their family income does not exceed 100 percent of poverty. Children ages 15 through 18 can be covered if their family income does not exceed 37 percent of the federal poverty level.

"The success of the CHIP program has shown an inspiring amount of cooperation between the federal government and the states," said Nancy-Ann DeParle, administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), which administers CHIP, Medicaid and Medicare. "It is through those efforts that we will realize the Administration's goal of providing health insurance to those who need it."

"We're pulling together to help hard-working, low-income parents give their kids the same kind of high quality health care others take for granted," said Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the agency working with HCFA and states to implement CHIP. "Free or low-cost health insurance is what families need to ensure their kids can grow up strong and healthy."

For the first year of the program, allotments totaling $4.3 billion are available to states whose plans are approved by HHS by Sept. 30, 1999. In addition to the 32 plans which have been approved -- Alabama, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, California, Illinois, New York, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oregon, Texas, Idaho, Puerto Rico, Indiana, Utah, North Carolina, Minnesota, Maryland, Arkansas, Nebraska, Maine, Nevada, South Dakota and Iowa -- these states have submitted plans: Tennessee, Montana, the District of Columbia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, the Virgin Islands, Kansas, North Dakota, Arizona, Delaware, Mississippi and Louisiana.