More Idaho Kids Eligible for CHIP: Families No Longer Face Asset Test for Children's Health Insurance Program
Posted on: Tuesday, 2 May 2006, 09:01 CDT
By Melissa McGrath, The Idaho Statesman, Boise
May 02--More Idaho children can get medical coverage through a state-run health insurance program this year. A local organization is trying to spread the word to eligible families.
Idaho lawmakers this year eliminated the so-called asset test -- a rule that looked at a family's assets -- to determine whether their children were eligible for the state Children's Health Insurance Program. CHIP serves children up to age 19 in low-income families.
About 600 children were denied coverage under CHIP last year because of the asset test, said Ross Mason, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Welfare.
The asset test said children in a family with $5,000 or more in assets, such as a savings account or stocks, were ineligible. The test did not include a house or car.
CHIP is designed to help working poor families that earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid. Two CHIP programs serve about 13,000 children a year:
-- CHIP-A, for families that earn up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that's $2,500 a month, or $30,000 a year.
-- CHIP-B, for families that earn between 150 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level. For a family of four, that's $3,083.33 a month, or $37,000 a year.
In the next year, the department projects an additional 1,800 children in the state will enroll in CHIP because of this rule change, Mason said. The asset test was eliminated from CHIP-B requirements in April, and it will be eliminated from CHIP-A and Medicaid programs July 1 when the Medicaid reforms that Idaho lawmakers passed go into effect.
About 30,000 uninsured children in the state are eligible for CHIP but not enrolled, according to Covering Kids and Families of Idaho, the state chapter of a national nonprofit organization that works to reduce the number of uninsured children.
"The big thing I want people to know is that investing in children's health is the biggest investment people can make for their welfare and their well-being," said Mary Lou Kinney, project director for Covering Kids.
Eliminating the asset test likely will affect the CHIP-B program the most because it serves children in families with higher incomes. If families were ineligible for CHIP-A because of assets, they would usually qualify for CHIP-B, she said.
Kinney has heard several stories about children who were denied coverage in previous years because their parents had saved up money or inherited stocks.
A college student in northern Idaho, for example, was denied coverage through CHIP because she had a federal scholarship that could have been cashed in, Kinney said.
Covering Kids is setting up enrollment sites throughout the Treasure Valley this week as part of Cover the Uninsured Week. To learn more about the dates, times and locations of enrollment sites, call 211, the IdahoCareLine, or visit www.adahcap.org, click on What's New and download the Cover the Uninsured Week brochure.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise
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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise
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