Michigan's Children and many partners on the state, federal and local levels have worked hard to ensure a favorable reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), known as MIChild in Michigan, as well as a strong Medicaid program. Michigan's Children will continue to work to ensure the expansion of SCHIP funds to reach the goal of insuring all children in Michigan, and that the Medicaid program remains the backbone of the public health care system for children in need.
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
To get reliable health care, kids need reliable health coverage. SCHIP, in partnership with Medicaid, has cut the number of uninsured children by almost a third since 1997. But there are still nearly 9 million American kids without coverage, including more than 160,000 Michigan children.
On Feb. 4, 2009 President Barack Obama signed into law the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R. 2).
The 4.5-year reauthorization extends coverage to an additional 4 million uninsured children and maintains coverage for nearly 7 million more. It also expands the State Children's Health Insurance Program to families with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level and allows states to drop a five-year waiting period required of legal immigrant children and pregnant women who seek public coverage. The additional $32.8 billion needed to pay for this program will be funded through an increase in federal tobacco taxes.
At a signing ceremony Obama called the bill “a down payment” on his pledge to provide health insurance coverage to all Americans and said the reauthorization is particularly urgent because of the deepening economic crisis. Watch President Obama's speech and bill signing on YouTube.
The House passed the bill earlier in the day by a vote of 290-135, with 40 Republicans joining almost all Democrats in approving it. The Senate approved the bill on Jan. 29 by a vote of 66-32.
We applaud President Obama and the members of Michigan's Congressional delegation who voted in support of this critical legislation: Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and Reps. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, John Conyers, John Dingell, Vern Ehlers, Dale Kildee, Sander Levin, Thaddeus McCotter, Candice Miller, Gary Peters, Mark Schauer, Bart Stupak and Fred Upton.
Read a statement from Michigan's Children President & CEO Jack Kresnak thanking members who voted for the resolution
Read a summary or full text of H.R. 2, see the votes, history of the bill and more
Read a cost analysis of H.R. 2 by the Congressional Budget Office
We urged Congress to protect and expand SCHIP by:
- Expanding Funding for SCHIP. Despite SCHIP's enormous success, many Michigan children eligible to receive coverage remain unenrolled. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the next five years, an additional $14 billion will be needed to maintain current SCHIP programs. The bills passed by Congress in the summer of 2007 increased funding for SCHIP between $35 billion and $50 billion, money needed to expand coverage to more insured children.
- Protecting and Strengthening Medicaid. Medicaid is the backbone of the public system to provide healthcare for children in need. SCHIP's success has been built on its strong partnership with Medicaid. For SCHIP to succeed, Medicaid must remain strong. Cutting Medicaid funding as a way to finance SCHIP just doesn't make sense. Nor does watering down existing Medicaid coverage.
- Broadening Access to Care. States should have more flexibility to use SCHIP funding to expand access to pregnant women, more children in working poor families, and other populations including legal immigrant children.
Key Facts About SCHIP
- The insurance program was created in 1997 to cover uninsured children whose families earn too much income to qualify for Medicaid.
- More than a dozen states have expanded the program, which covers more than 6 million children.
- In Michigan, the program is known as MIChild and covers about 30,000 children under the age of 19 at any given time.
- Nearly 154,000 children have been covered under MIChild since 1998.
- Eligible families have incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, about $34,340 a year for a family of three.
- Michigan uses its leftover SCHIP funding for the Adult Benefits Waiver, which provides a basic outpatient benefit to childless adults who earn less than $3,600 a year.
- There still are more than 160,000 vulnerable children uninsured in Michigan. Two-thirds of them qualify for either Medicaid or MIChild.
For more about SCHIP and why it is so important for Michigan children, read the December 2008 Issues for Michigan's Children
To sign up for MIChild, click here.
For a fact sheet on SCHIP, click here.
To read First Focus's overview on children's health, click here.
For more information on children's health, click here.
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