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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE				  	
Monday, Oct. 26, 1998                    	        			                  		
Contact:  HCFA Press Office  (202) 690-6145

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

Mississippi could receive as much as $11 million 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.

State officials estimate they will enroll over 7,500 children in the CHIP program by September 1999. Mississippi, like all states with CHIP plans, will receive federal matching funds only for actual expenditures to insure children.

Mississippi�s plan is the 45th CHIP plan to be approved in the first year of the CHIP program. Together, these plans anticipate providing health insurance coverage for more than 2.3 million currently uninsured children within the next three years.

"It is gratifying to see so many states take 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.

Mississippi will use its federal allotment to expand Medicaid to cover children ages 15 through 18 in families with incomes up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level (the federal poverty level for a family of four is $16,450). The benefit package will be the regular state Medicaid program and there will be no cost to families.

"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. "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, 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.

Note: HHS press releases are available on the World Wide Web at: www.hhs.gov.