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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 Contact: HCFA Press Office (202) 690-6145
HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced approval of Pennsylvania�s proposal to expand its Children�s Health Insurance Program and insure thousands of children who would otherwise not have coverage (CHIP).
State officials estimate that with the state's initial plan -- approved May 28 -- and the amendment, Pennsylvania will be able to insure 80-100,000 children by September 1999. This amendment to Pennsylvania�s CHIP plan will further expand eligibility for children from birth to age 18 in families with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (the federal poverty level for a family of four is $16,450).
The current program covers children ages 1 to 16 in families with incomes at or below 185 percent of poverty. The benefit package under the amendment will be the same as currently offered through the Pennsylvania CHIP program and includes a full range of inpatient and outpatient services. This amendment also eliminates the $5 copayment for prescription drugs that had been in the original plan. There are no other cost-sharing requirements on families.
Pennsylvania is one of three states that had the benefit package of their existing state children's health program grandfathered under the federal Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
"Pennsylvania has done a wonderful job in maximizing the benefit of the CHIP program. Not only does it have a long history of helping connect kids to insurance, it has continued to build on its previous efforts with this significant new CHIP amendment," Secretary Shalala said. "We look forward to working with other states that want to expand their original CHIP programs."
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.
HHS has approved 45 CHIP plans since federal funds became available in October 1997. Together, these plans anticipate providing health insurance coverage for more than 2.3 million currently uninsured children by the end of 2000.
"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, which administers CHIP, Medicaid and Medicare. AIt 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, 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. CHIP plans have been approved in 45 states and U.S. territories: 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, Iowa, Kansas, Delaware, Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, Arizona, North Dakota, Louisiana, Virginia and Mississippi. Five states have submitted plans: Tennessee, New Mexico, Kentucky, Alaska and Hawaii.
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