A Children's Health Insurance Factsheet from Families USA
September 1997
Expanding Medicaid is the Best Option
Expanding Medicaid to at least 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines ($26,660 for a family of three in 1997) under the provisions of the new Title XXI of the Social Security Act offers many advantages for most states.
FISCAL AND OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF MEDICAID:
- Medicaid expansion will only require creation of a new eligibility category, not the design of a whole new system and the creation of a new bureaucracy.
- Medicaid has lower administrative costs than private insurance
- States will have greater bargaining power with plans and providers with a larger pool of beneficiaries.
- States will continue receiving federal matching funds under Medicaid after the Title XXI allotment is exhausted.
ELIGIBILITY AND COVERAGE ADVANTAGES OF MEDICAID:
- All eligible children will receive benefits on a state-wide basis.
- Medicaid offers a comprehensive benefit package at no cost to low-income children including home and community-based services for children with special needs.
- All beneficiaries have basic procedural protections against erroneous decisions and beneficiaries in managed care have basic consumer protections, like a choice between at least two plans.
RESOURCE LIST FOR MEDICAID OR A SEPERATE STATE PROGRAM: A BASIC DECISION FACING STATES
Child Health Assistance Program: Making Choices to Ensure Coverage of Mental Health: Medicaid: the Best Option, (Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Washington, DC). Telephone: (202) 467-662-3628; web site www.bazelon.org
States Should Consider Building on Medicaid, December 1997 (Childrens' Defense Fund, Washington, D.C.) Telephone 202-662-3628; web site www.childrensdefense.org
The State Childrens' Health Insurance Program: Reasons for Expanding Medicaid, Child Health Fact Sheet, October 1997 (National Association of Child Advocates, Washington, D.C.) Telephone 202-289-0777; web site www.childadvocacy.org
Why Not Medicaid? Using Child Health Funds to Expand Coverage Through the Medicaid Program, October 1997 (The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, D.C.). Telephone 202-408-1080; web site www.cbpp.org
A Preliminary Guide To Expansion of Childrens' Health Coverage, September 1997 (Families USA, Washington, D.C.) Telephone 202-628-3030
The New Childrens' Health Insurance Program: Should States Expand Medicaid? New Federalism Issues and Options for States, Series A, no. A-13, October 1997 (The Urban Institute, Washington, DC). Telephone 202-857-8687; web site www.urban.org
[Return to top]
