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This fact sheet summarizes the early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment (EPSDT) Medicaid benefit for children and the current issues and debates that could impact the benefit. Fact Sheet (.pdf)
A fact sheet that provides an overview of how the State Children's Health Insurance Program is administered and financed, who is eligible, what services are covered, and what the policy issues are for the program's reauthorization. Fact Sheet (.pdf)
The State Children's Health Insurance Program: Lessons and Outlook Barbara 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 Insurance Program and the outlook for the program's future. Testimony (.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 health insurance and accessing care. Issue Brief (.pdf)
Overall, more than one-third of the states (19 states) took steps last year to increase access to health coverage for low-income children, pregnant women and parents –- including 15 states that authorized or implemented coverage expansions. At the same time, 10 states enacted at least one measure to restrict access. The report also examines trends in parental coverage and state outreach efforts, including the use of technology to facilitate enrollment. Full Report (.pdf) Data Tables…
This brief, the first in a series, examines the new federal "performance bonus" available to states that do an especially good job of signing up eligible children for Medicaid. The bonus, created by a provision in the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, is designed to help states cover the added costs that result when states are very successful in enrolling eligible children in Medicaid above target levels specified in the law. It…
This brief, the third in a series, examines changes to citizenship documentation requirements under the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. The law extends the requirement to document citizenship that applied in Medicaid to CHIP as well. At the same time, it modifies current requirements to reduce the paperwork burden on families and states and helps ensure that eligible children and others are enrolled and receive needed health care without delay. Brief (.pdf)
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds is the third in a series of large-scale, nationally representative surveys by the Foundation about young people’s media use. The report is based on a survey conducted between October 2008 and May 2009 among a nationally representative sample of 2,002 3rd-12th grade students ages 8-18, including a self-selected subsample of 702 respondents who completed seven-day media use diaries, which were used to calculate multitasking proportions.…
This issue paper explores the potential for increasing enrollment in children's health insurance programs through "Express Lane Eligibility." Express Lane Eligibility is the accelerated enrollment of low-income uninsured children already participating in other income-comparable publicly funded programs, such as WIC or school lunch, into Medicaid or CHIP. The paper reviews Express Lane Eligibility's potential impact on Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, analyzes different models, discusses key challenges with implementation, and suggests steps states and localities can…
A new chartbook by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that on most, though not all indicators, California's health care system fares poorly when compared to the U.S. as a whole. The report, Health Care Trends and Indicators in California and the United States, shows that many more Californians have no health insurance than in the rest of the U.S., but when they do have insurance it tends to be more comprehensive and cost less than…
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