DATE: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: HCFA Press Office (202) 690-6145

HHS APPROVES LOUISIANA'S PLAN TO INSURE MORE CHILDREN

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced approval of Louisiana's plan to expand health insurance coverage to thousands of uninsured children through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Louisiana could receive as much as $102 million in new funds under the federal CHIP program -- the historic, bipartisan legislation signed last year by President Clinton. The CHIP law allocates $24 billion over the next five years to help states expand health insurance to children whose families earn too much for traditional Medicaid, yet not enough to afford private health insurance.

State officials estimate they will enroll over 28,000 children in the CHIP program by the end of fiscal year September 2000. Louisiana, like all states with CHIP plans, will receive federal matching funds only for actual expenditures to insure children.

Louisiana's plan is the 43rd CHIP plan to be approved in the first year of the CHIP program. Together, these plans anticipate providing health insurance coverage for more than 2.3 million currently uninsured children within the next three years.

"It is gratifying to see so many states take advantage of this wonderful new program to help working parents obtain health insurance for their children," Secretary Shalala said. "The Clinton administration and the states are working together to give children the health care they need to live longer, healthier lives. That's good for all of us."

CHIP gives states three options for devising a plan to cover uninsured children: designing a new children's health insurance program; expanding current Medicaid programs; or a combination of both strategies. HHS must approve each state's plan before CHIP funds become available.

Louisiana will use its federal allotment to expand Medicaid by increasing the income eligibility level for children ages 6 through 18 whose family income is at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level (the federal poverty level for a family of four is $16,450). Currently, Louisiana's Medicaid program covers children ages 6 through 14 whose families have incomes of 100 percent of federal poverty or less. The program also covers children ages 14 through 18 only if their family incomes are at or below 10 percent of poverty.

The benefit package will be the regular state Medicaid program and there will be no cost to families.

"The success of the CHIP program has shown an inspiring amount of cooperation between the federal government and the states," said Nancy-Ann DeParle, administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), which administers CHIP, Medicaid and Medicare. "It is through those efforts that we will realize the administration's goal of providing health insurance to those who need it."

"We're pulling together to help hard-working, low-income parents give their kids the same kind of high quality health care others take for granted," said Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the agency working with HCFA and states to implement CHIP. "Free or low-cost health insurance is what families need to ensure their kids can grow up strong and healthy."

For the first year of the program, allotments totaling $4.3 billion are available to states whose plans are approved by HHS by Sept. 30, 1999. In addition to the 43 plans which have been approved -- Alabama, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, California, Illinois, New York, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oregon, Texas, Idaho, Puerto Rico, Indiana, Utah, North Carolina, Minnesota, Maryland, Arkansas, Nebraska, Maine, Nevada, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Delaware, Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, Arizona, North Dakota and Louisiana -- these states have submitted plans: Tennessee, New Mexico, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi and Alaska.

Note: HHS press releases are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.hhs.gov.