Children

A Race to the Top: Illinois’s All Kids InitiativeIn the summer of 2006, Illinois launched All Kids, the nation’s first universal coverage program for children. Several states have observed Illinois’ experience and are proceeding with their own coverage initiatives. This case study of Illinois' All Kids initiative describes the key…

Fact Sheets Summarize President’s Budget Proposals for Health Insurance Coverage, Including Medicaid and SCHIP The President’s fiscal year 2008 budget proposal includes changes to Medicaid, provisions for the reauthorization of SCHIP, and the health coverage initiative, Affordable Choices. These fact sheets provide an overview of President Bush’s policy plans on…

Currently, eleven states cover parents with SCHIP funds via a federal waiver. This paper examines these programs and considers them within the context of the states' efforts to cover children. Issue Brief (.pdf)

Largely due to a high uninsured rate, low-income, non-citizen children have very poor access to care, with many lacking a regular provider and going without preventive care. This brief examines health coverage and access to care for low-income, non-citizen children to provide insight into the challenges they face in obtaining…

This focus group report explores the perceptions, motivations, and experiences of low-income parents enrolling their children in Medicaid and SCHIP. The 11 focus groups were conducted in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami in early 2007. Report (.pdf)

Information technology holds considerable promise for improving outreach to families with uninsured children, getting them enrolled in Medicaid and SCHIP and keeping them covered. This report documents the promising practices underway across the country to use technology to make enrollment and renewal more efficient, more responsive to family needs and…

President’s FY2008 Budget and The State Children’s Health Insurance Program The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was established in 1997 to build on Medicaid’s coverage of children. The program must be reauthorized this year to continue uninterrupted. This fact sheet summarizes the President’s budget proposal to reauthorize the SCHIP…

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program: Lessons and OutlookBarbara Lyons, a vice president of the Foundation and deputy director of the Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, testified before a field hearing of the U.S. Committee on Finance about lessons learned from ten years of the State Children’s Health…

This brief analyzes health coverage data and determines that 25% of the nation's uninsured population is eligible for either Medicaid or SCHIP. The brief goes on to describe the characteristics of the population. Issue Brief (.pdf)

Maintaining and expanding health coverage for children and parents will likely be in the forefront of health care policy debates in Washington and state capitols in 2007. With states generally in better financial shape since the fiscal crisis earlier in the decade, many have expressed interest in improving access to…