NurseWeek

Children lose out on health insurance

By Keith W. Murrow
September 26, 2000


	You've read the article. Now tell us what you think. Related Sites State Children’s Health Insurance Program Information about CHIP from the American Academy of Pediatrics

Washington (H24N). Forty states face losing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding allocated to them to pay for health insurance for low-income children, according to the White House.

The federal government set up the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover the health costs of low-income children.

In 1997 Congress allocated $40 billion over 10 years for states to set up and administer the program. States were given three years – which run out Sept. 30 –to spend the first installment of the funds, a total of $4.2 billion.

Only 55 percent of the money has been used, with only 10 states spending their allotment. The other 40 states will now have to return the unused funds.

To the 10 states that did spend their allotment – Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and South Carolina – the government will give the $1.9 billion in unspent funds. Those states will have until Sept. 30, 2001, to use the money.

Residents of California and Texas are the hardest hit from the unspent funds. Combined, the two states have almost 30 percent of the 11 million uninsured children in America, and the two-behemoth states account for almost 50 percent of the unspent funds.

Funding for CHIP will continue for the seven remaining years of the program, allocating funds to 50 states.