Medicaid and SCHIP
Enrollment and Retention
Background Information for Oct 28, 2004

Primary Resources for the call:

• Beneath the Surface: Barriers Threaten to Slow Progress on Expanding Health Coverage of Children and Families, prepared by Donna Cohen Ross and Laura Cox(Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 10/04). This is a 50-state survey of eligibility rules, enrollment and renewal procedures, and cost-sharing policies in Medicaid and SCHIP for children and families. To see how your state’s rules and policies compare to others, look at the tables beginning on page 25.
  
  
• Congress Can Preserve $1.1 Billion in Expiring Children’s Health Insurance Funds and Help Avert SCHIP Cutbacks, prepared by Edwin Park and Matt Broaddus (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, revised 9/28/04) (PDF version). Though it is now too late for federal action, this report includes helpful state-by-state data. Tables show which states under spent their SCHIP allotment and which states ran out of SCHIP funds. They also predict state SCHIP spending in the coming years. (The $1.1 billion of unspent SCHIP money reverted to the federal treasury at the end of September.)
  
  

• A Reality Check: A View from the Front Lines of Public Health Insurance Enrollment, prepared by Kate Lawler (Children's Aid Society, 3/04). This report discusses the  enrollment challenges in Phublic Health Insurance in New York.

• Project Pathfinder, a project launched by Healthy Kids, Summer 2004. This project attempts to inform individuals of the changes currently underway at Healthy Kids and KidCare (Florida's SCHIP program). This is a public information project that informs families of their new responsibilities.
  
  
• Medicaid and SCHIP Regulations Summaries of the Medicaid and SCHIP regulations in regard to enrollment and retention.

Other Resources:

• Samles of consumer education materials:
      Getting Medi-Cal for Your Child Quickly
     Low-Cost or Free Health Coverage for Your Family 
        
• Expanding Medicaid Coverage to Low-Income Parents Reduces the Number of Uninsured Children (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 9/00). Expanding state Medicaid programs to provide coverage for parents also increases the number of low-income children protected by health insurance, according to research by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The research compares changes in children's coverage in states that extended coverage to low-income parents to changes in coverage in states that did not institute such expansions.
  
  
• The Medicaid Recertification Assistance Demonstration, prepared by Anthony Tassi and Deborah Bachrach (Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc, 4/02). This Resource Paper describes how the state of New York reduced the rate of involuntary disenrollment due to loss of Medicaid eligibility and created financially sustainable entry-level jobs at health plans serving low-income communities. Under the Medicaid Recertification Assistance Demonstration, prepaid health services plans in New York City created jobs for former welfare recipients to assist Medicaid managed care enrollees to recertify their eligibility.
  
  
• Evaluation Guide (Covering Kids and Families). This is a guide that details how and why an organization evaluates its outreach strategies.
  
  
• Pennsylvania State Project (Covering Kids and Families). Pennsylvania has conducted an outreach project for various populations, including migrant, Spanish speaking, and rural.
  
  
• The fact sheet, Preserving Enrollment is part of a larger Action Kit entitled Preserving Medicaid in Tough Times (Families USA, 2004 update) . The fact sheet furnishes arguments that advocates can use in states that are trying to cut Medicaid enrollment due to austere state budget climates.
  
  

• For further arguments to combat budget cuts, see Medicaid: Good Medicine for State Economies, 2004 Update, (Families USA).
  
  

• The fact sheet, Keeping Medicaid is part of a larger Action Kit entitled What Did Welfare Reform Do to Medicaid in Your State and What Can You Do About It? (Families USA, 2000). The fact sheet reviews the rules that allow parents to keep Medicaid when they return to work, when their incomes increase, or when there are welfare-related sanctions and provides tips for correcting state systems that may wrongfully terminate people from Medicaid.
  
  

• Promising Ideas in Children’s Health Insurance: Simplifying Eligibility Reviews (Families USA, 5/01). Discusses ways states can simplify recertification forms, lengthen enrollment periods, and help families complete eligibility reviews.
  
   

• Enrollment Hits the Web: States Maximize Internet Technology in SCHIP and Medicaid, prepared by Brendan Krause (National Governors Association, 5/02). This issue brief discusses the use of the internet as a way to promote enrollment in SCHIP and Medicaid.