| Children's health insurance update |
| Friday, 06 March 2009 08:03 |
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The following Children's health insurance update is from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it : 1. Hawai`i: 2009 Income Limits Increase A family of four can now earn around $76,000 annually and their children may qualify for the state's free QUEST and Medicaid programs. That is about $3,000 more than in 2008. Hawai`i Covering Kids and its 200 federal, state, business, and community partners are working extremely hard during the current downturn to enroll eligible uninsured children and youths in free health insurance programs. 2. National: August 17 Directive Rescinded On 4 February 2009, President Obama rescinded the August 17 Directive which had made it difficult for states to provide health insurance for children on households above 250% FPL. CMS issued a letter to state health officials withdrawing the directive and a clarifying letter. More information is at http://ccf.georgetown.edu/index/cmsdirective. 3. National: Citizenship Documentation Rules Hampering Children's Health Insurance Federal regulations that took effect in 2006 require that individuals provide proof of citizenship when applying for or renewing Medicaid or other public health insurance coverage. In the new Commonwealth Fund report, Getting and Keeping Coverage: States' Experience with Citizenship Documentation Rules, Laura Summer examines the impact the documentation rules have had on the stability of public coverage for low-income families in seven states: Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Virginia, and Washington. According to Summer, a senior research scholar at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, the new requirements have increased the complexity, administrative burden, and costs of enrollment and renewal in each state, making it more difficult for children and their families to get and keep health coverage. In some cases, states' ongoing efforts to simplify enrollment processes have been curtailed, as resources were diverted for citizenship documentation purposes. The report also found that a state's approach to implementing the rules, as well as its organizational and technological capacity, can mitigate the impact. For example, Washington State established a "Citizenship Central Unit" to help current and potential program participants document their citizenship, and state officials conduct database searches to find birth certificates for applicants and enrollees. These actions not only promoted coverage stability but also saved time for workers in the field. [L. Summer, The Commonwealth Fund, January 2009]The report is at |