Success of CHIPs Depends on States
There are 42 million Americans without health insurance; nearly
ten million of those are children. Through the Children’s Health Insurance
Program (CHIP), established in October 1997 to federally fund low-income
children’s health care, states can meet this need.
Yet CHIPs are underutilized, noted participants in a Summit panel on
health care, and many states lack the knowledge to set up or effectively
implement CHIPs in their area.
Under CHIP, participating states will receive $48
billion over 10 years, including $4 billion in annual
grants to cover low-income uninsured children. These
funds can be used to build on existing Medicaid programs,
create new programs or a combination of the two.
The first step in organizing a CHIP is
enrollment of those eligible, which can be a challenge in that
outreach and enrollment must be tailored to specific populations.
Dr. Dennis Andrulis, Director of the Office of Urban Populations at the New
York Academy of Medicine, noted utilization of children’s health insurance varies
by race, ethnicity and geography. In Florida, noted Florida state Rep.
Beryl Roberts, many legal immigrants will not enroll for government health
care for fear of being reported to the INS.
The use of community health workers is one successful strategy
for increasing outreach and enrollment efforts.
State programs must also consider other barriers to accessing medical
care for those enrolled in a CHIP, including availability of transportation to
and from health care services.
Georgia state Sen. Nadine Thomas stressed the importance of
broadly based public education on CHIPs. CHIP outreach efforts should include
school boards, corporations and faith-based organizations in order to effectively
reach communities.
