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Date: Monday, June 15, 1998                                
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: HCFA Press Office (202) 690-6145

Texas could receive as much as $561 million in new funds for Fiscal Year 1998 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. Texas officials estimate they will enroll 57, 488 children in their CHIP program by October 1, 1999.

Texas is the nineteenth state to have its plan approved in the nine months since CHIP funds have been available. Together, these 19 states anticipate providing health insurance coverage for more than one million currently uninsured children within the next three years.

"By providing children with health insurance, we are giving them a real head start on a healthy life," Secretary Shalala said. "Working together, the Clinton Administration and the states are making remarkable progress in reducing the number of uninsured children in this country. Together, we are bringing working parents and their kids tremendous peace of mind."

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.

Texas will use its allotment to expand Medicaid eligibility to children up to age 19 in families with incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level (the federal poverty level is $16,450 for a family of four.) Texas currently covers children from birth to one in families with incomes up to 185 percent of poverty, ages 1-5 up to 133 percent of poverty, ages 6-14 up to 100 percent of poverty and ages 15-19 up to 47 percent of poverty. The state also plans to expand coverage to additional low-income children and families by submitting an amendment to their CHIP program sometime in 1999.

Children in the Medicaid expansion population will receive the same benefit package as children currently enrolled in the state's Medicaid program.

"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 19 states 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 and Texas -- these plans have been submitted: Tennessee, Nevada, Vermont, Puerto Rico, Utah, Minnesota, Montana, Indiana, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, Maine, New Hampshire, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, South Dakota and Kentucky.