The Children's Health Insurance Program grew out of years of work in the
U.S. Congress to improve Americans' health coverage. Almost a decade prior, the
U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Comprehensive Health Care was formed in 1989 and charged with recommending "legislative action to ensure coverage for all Americans." The commission, renamed the Pepper Commission in honor of its creator and first chair Representative Claude Pepper (D-Fla.), laid out a blueprint to achieve universal coverage. Given the challenges of comprehensive health reform, Governor
Jay Rockefeller, who was elected chair following Rep. Pepper's death, emphasized his commitment to pursue legislative action not only on the commission's full set of recommendations but also on a "down payment"—to expand public health coverage immediately for children and pregnant women, consistent with the principles the commission put forward. The legislation would guarantee public insurance coverage through Medicaid for every American child living in poverty and offset the cost of the improvements by doubling the federal excise tax on cigarettes. Quickly after his election in 1992, President
Bill Clinton assembled a task force to write a comprehensive health reform bill, and he worked with Congress to introduce the Health Security Act (HSA) in November 1993. It included provisions such as universal coverage and a basic benefit package, health insurance reform, and consumer choice of health plans. After the HSA failed in the fall of 1994, congressional leaders and the administration recognized the need for an incremental, bipartisan approach to health care reform. Senator
Jay Rockefeller continued to argue for expanded coverage for children. He referenced an amendment for accelerated coverage children and pregnant women offered during the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform markup that was adopted by a bipartisan majority of 12 to 8 as evidence that there was bipartisan support to provide assistance to children. He also went on to say expanding coverage for children was essential to reforming the welfare system to "prevent families from having to go and off welfare to qualify for Medicaid." The 1996 Bipartisan Budget Agreement made net reductions in federal Medicaid spending over a five-year period but anticipated an additional $16 billion in spending on children's health care over the same period. However, it did not provide details on how that money would be spent. In 1997, several members of Congress introduced bills to cover uninsured children using that $16 billion, and the two most popular proposals were the Chafee-Rockefeller proposal and the Kennedy-Hatch proposal. Senator
Ted Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) was intrigued by a children's health insurance plan in Massachusetts that had passed in 1996, and met with a
Boston Medical Center pediatrics director and a
Massachusetts state legislator to discuss the feasibility of a national initiative. Kennedy also saw using an increase in
tobacco taxes as a way to pay for the expanded coverage. Kennedy brought Republican senator
Orrin Hatch onto the legislation as a co-sponsor. Kennedy and Hatch had worked together as an "odd couple" in the Senate before, and here Hatch said that "Children are being terribly hurt and perhaps scarred for the rest of their lives" and that "as a nation, as a society, we have a moral responsibility" to provide coverage. Hatch's role would infuriate some Republican colleagues and conservative commentators. On April 8, 1997, Senators Kennedy and Hatch introduced S. 525, the "Child Health Insurance and Lower Deficit Act (CHILD). This legislation amended the Public Health Service Act to create a new grant program for states to purchase private health insurance for children. It proposed to raise $30 billion over 5 years by raising the tobacco tax with $20 billion going to expanded coverage for children under a block grant approach and $10 billion for deficit reduction. S. 525 was referred to the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Hearings were held on the bill in the HELP Committee but legislation to expand coverage for children was never acted on in the HELP Committee. On April 30, 1997, senators
John Chafee (R-RI) and
Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa.) introduced S. 674, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act "to expand health coverage of low income children and pregnant women and to provide funds to promote outreach efforts to enroll eligible children." On the same day, Representative
John Dingell (D-MI) introduced an identical bipartisan companion bill in the
House of Representatives with Republican cosponsor, Representative Margaret Scafati Roukema (R-NJ). Meanwhile, in December 1996 First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton examined several possible initiatives and decided expanding health care insurance to children who had none was the one to advance, especially as its focus on children would be politically popular. Additionally, Hillary Clinton had discussed an SCHIP-like program with a White House health policy coordinator during the time her full-blown health care plan had suffered political failure. The new initiative was proposed at Bill Clinton's January 1997
State of the Union address, with the stated goal of coverage up to five million children. In March 1997, Kennedy brought Republican Senator Orrin Hatch onto the legislation as co-sponsor; Kennedy and Hatch had worked together as an "odd couple" in the Senate before, and here Hatch said that "Children are being terribly hurt and perhaps scarred for the rest of their lives" and that "as a nation, as a society, we have a moral responsibility" to provide coverage. and
conservative commentators. The First Lady did not hold news conferences or testify before Congress on behalf of the bill. Kennedy and Hatch scoffed at the objection, with the former saying, "If we can keep people healthy and stop them from dying, I think most Americans would say 'Amen; isn't that a great result?' If fewer people smoke, states will save far more in lower health costs than they will lose in revenues from the cigarette tax." Pressure was on to reduce the amount of grants involved, with $16 billion a possible compromise; Hillary Clinton instead argued for $24 billion. but Kennedy was surprised and angered by it, At a press conference following the signing, Kennedy thanked Hatch, Senate Minority Leader
Tom Daschle, Children's Defense Fund head
Marian Wright Edelman, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton. On 25 June 1997, H.R. 2015 passed House Vote Roll #241 mainly among partisan lines, 270 ayes and 162 nays, with most Democrats in the House of Representatives in opposition. On the same day, the bill passed in the Senate, with a substitute amendment, by unanimous consent. After a conference between the House and Senate, passage in both House (Roll #345: 346–85) and Senate (Roll #209: 85–15) on the conference substitute became more bipartisan. == State administration == Like Medicaid, CHIP is a partnership between federal and state governments. The programs are run by the individual states according to requirements set by the federal
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. States may design their CHIP programs as an independent program separate from Medicaid (separate child health programs), use CHIP funds to expand their Medicaid program (CHIP Medicaid expansion programs), or combine these approaches (CHIP combination programs). States receive enhanced federal funds for their CHIP programs at a rate above the regular Medicaid match. By February 1999, 47 states had set up CHIP programs, but it took effort to get children enrolled. the campaign would fall under the aegis of the
Health Resources and Services Administration. By April 1999, some 1 million children had been enrolled, and the Clinton administration set a goal of raising the figure to 2.5 million by 2000. States with separate child health programs follow the regulations described in Section 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 457. Separate child health programs have much more flexibility than Medicaid programs. Separate programs can impose cost sharing, tailor their benefit packages, and employ a great deal of flexibility in eligibility and enrollment matters. The limits to this flexibility are described in the regulations, and states must describe their program characteristics in their CHIP state plans. Out of 50 state governors, 43 support CHIP renewal. Some states have incorporated the use of private companies to administer portions of their CHIP benefits. These programs, typically referred to as
Medicaid managed care, allow private insurance companies or health maintenance organizations to contract directly with a state Medicaid department at a fixed price per enrollee. The health plans then enroll eligible individuals into their programs and become responsible for assuring CHIP benefits are delivered to eligible beneficiaries. In
Ohio, CHIP funds are used to expand eligibility for the state's Medicaid program. Thus all Medicaid rules and regulations (including cost sharing and benefits) apply. Children from birth through age 18 who live in families with incomes above the Medicaid thresholds in 1996 and up to 200% of the federal poverty level are eligible for the CHIP Medicaid expansion program. In 2008, the maximum annual income needed for a family of four to fall within 100% of the federal poverty guidelines was $21,200, while 200% of the poverty guidelines was $42,400. Other states have similar CHIP guidelines, with some states being more generous or restrictive in the number of children they allow into the program. With the exception of Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota and Oklahoma, all states have a minimum threshold for coverage at 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. CHIP Medicaid expansion programs typically use the same names for the expansion and Medicaid programs. Separate child health programs typically have different names for their programs. A few states also call the CHIP program by the term "Children's Health Insurance Program" (CHIP). States are allowed to use Medicaid and CHIP funds for premium assistance programs that help eligible individuals purchase private health insurance. As of 2008 relatively few states had premium assistance programs, and enrollment was relatively low. Interest in this approach remained high, however. In August 2007, the Bush Administration announced a rule requiring states (as of August 2008) to sign up 95% of families with children earning 200% of the federal poverty level, before using the funds to serve families earning more than 250% of the federal poverty level. The federal government said that 9 out the 17 states that offer benefits to higher-earning families were already compliant. Opponents of this rule argued that signing up higher-income families makes lower-income families more likely to sign up, and that the rule was incompassionate toward children who would otherwise go without medical insurance.
Implementations • California:
California Healthy Families Program (defunct) • Utah:
State Children's Health Insurance Program in Utah == Eligibility for CHIP ==