Wednesday, 12 March 2008
High Number of Children in Texas Enroll in SCHIP, Medicaid Numbers Fall
Over the last month, roughly 24,000 children in Texas signed up for the state's Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), reported the Associated Press and the Houston Chronicle.
It was a 7 percent surge in the number of children enrolled in SCHIP, and brings the total number of kids covered to 382,000.
State officials said the increased enrollment is because of recent legislation that extended the children's insurance program for six months to a year, wrote the AP.
The new law also makes it easier for parents to get their children covered under SCHIP — they no longer have to prove income with pay stubs and submit other information.
While more children are getting SCHIP coverage, fewer children are signing on to Medicaid. In fact, around 13,000 children lost their Medicaid coverage since February. Experts are guessing the reduced enrollment in Medicaid is due to a poorly organized program.
Some children's Medicaid applications don't get processed for months.
The AP article also reported that the caseloads and applicants for state workers have significantly increased since 2002.
"The vast majority of [children's Medicaid] applications are processed as they have been for years — in state offices by state workers. We are still struggling with workload issues in our offices," said Anne Dunkelberg, who works at the Center for Public Policy Priorities.
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