Friday, June 16, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Social Services today filed an urgent situation regulation to clarify the affordability factor for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), increasing eligibility to nearly 5,500 additional Missouri children.
"The necessary changes I proposed to our state's social welfare programs last year exempted children from losing any coverage. The changes that actually passed affected the affordability test for families and created inequity within the system," Missouri governor Matt Blunt said.
"The department's emergency regulation will expand access to healthcare for children, lower the eligibility threshold for many families and eliminate existing inequities".
SCHIP provides health coverage for children, whose families cannot admission affordable health insurance; earn too much to succeed for regular Medicaid payback and whose income does not exceed 300 percent of the federal poverty level, $49,800 for a family of three.
SCHIP was established in 1998. Since then, incapability to admission affordable insurance has been a key feature to qualify for the program. Affordable is defined in state law and until last year practical only to families with incomes better than 225 percent of poverty.
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