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LaCHIP, as the current program is known, is a Medicaid expansion covering uninsured children between the ages of 6 and 19 in families with incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL).

"The Clinton Administration and the states are working together to give children the health care they need to live longer, healthier lives," said Secretary Shalala. "It's a pleasure to approve Louisiana's amendment, and I look forward to more states expanding their CHIP programs in the future."

Today's approved amendment will add more children -- an estimated 10,000 by the end of September 2000, according to state officials -- by expanding Medicaid coverage to uninsured children between birth and age 19 who are in families with incomes between 133 percent and 150 percent of the federal poverty level. (The federal poverty level is $16,700 per family of four.) In total, the state expects to enroll over 38,000 children by September 2000.

Louisiana is eligible to receive as much as $101 million in federal funds for fiscal year 1999 under the federal CHIP program, the historic, bipartisan legislation signed by President Bill Clinton in 1997. The CHIP law allocates $24 billion over 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.

Louisiana, like all states with CHIP plans, will receive federal matching funds only for actual expenditures to insure children. Together, the 53 state and U.S. territorial plans that have been approved to date anticipate providing health insurance coverage for more than 2.5 million currently uninsured children over three years.

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

"The Louisiana amendment is a positive demonstration that CHIP is working and that states are enthusiastic about this program," said Michael Hash, deputy administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, which administers CHIP, Medicaid and Medicare. "It is through efforts like this 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 children 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, 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."

Allotments totaling $4.3 billion are available to states whose plans are approved by HHS by Sept. 30, 1999. CHIP plans have been approved in 53 U.S. states and territories, including: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.

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