Congress Acts:
Good News for Health Care for Kids
Congress approved the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Bill (CHIPRA) in February 2009. This bill
reauthorizes the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for another four and a half years. The final bill improves
access to health care for children in a number of ways.
- SCHIP Funding Formula: The new funding formula for the program will provide Maine with guaranteed funding to cover
those already in the program as well as new people who sign up. SCHIP funding for Maine will increase annually.
- Coverage for Immigrant Children and Pregnant Women: The federal
Medicaid program and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program will now provide coverage to legal immigrant children and
pregnant women during their first five years in the country. Immigrant children and pregnant women are currently covered in the
MaineCare program with all state dollars. This change means that Maine will receive a federal match for the health care services
provided to this group through MaineCare (Maine’s
Medicaid program) and SCHIP.
- New Option for Meeting Citizenship Verification Requirement: The bill extends the citizenship verification requirement
to children covered through SCHIP. At the same time, the bill provides states with a new option for checking citizenship.
States will be able to verify citizenship through the Social Security Agency. This means that they can use existing information
regarding citizenship. We are hopeful that this change will simplify the
citizenship verification process for MaineCare applicants and the state.
Applicants will now be covered while they are going through the verification process.
- Dental coverage for underinsured children. States will now be able to
use SCHIP funds for dental coverage for underinsured children. This means that a state can provide dental coverage to a
child whose parent’s
employer-based coverage does not cover dental benefits. We are grateful
to Senator Snowe for adding this provision to the bill.
We extend our thanks to Maine’s entire congressional delegation for their votes in favor of the passage of CHIPRA.
This was an important first step for the new Congress. Maine Equal Justice and MAIN look forward to continuing to work with
the delegation on increasing access to affordable health coverage for all Americans.
MAIN
Update Table of Contents |
MAIN
Home Page |
MEJP Home Page
