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THE WHITE HOUSE AT WORK
Wednesday, April 1, 1998
THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION:
ENSURING HEALTH COVERAGE FOR CHILDREN
Today, on the sixth-month anniversary of the Children's Health
Insurance Program (CHIP), Health and Human Services Secretary Donna
Shalala, Domestic Policy Council Chair Bruce Reed, and National Economic
Council Director Gene Sperling announce that New York and Illinois's
children's health expansions have been approved. With these new
additions to CHIP, eight states have approved plans that will, when fully
implemented, cover over one million children.
After Only 6 Months, Approved Plans Will Cover One Million Children.
Over 10 million children in America are uninsured. Nearly 90 percent
of these children have parents who work, but do not have access to or
cannot afford health insurance. President Clinton is committed to
ensuring coverage for these children. With the addition of New York and
Illinois, eight states have approved CHIP plans. These approved state
plans will provide health care coverage for an estimated one million
children.
Rapidly Implementing The New Children's Health Insurance Program.
An NEC/DPC Progress Report issued at today's event shows the successful
implementation of the Children's Health Insurance Program. To date:
Eight states have approved plans to insure one million
children, including Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida,
Illinois, New York, Ohio, and South Carolina. Together, these states
estimate that they will provide health care coverage to over one million
children;
Another fifteen states have submitted Child Health Plans for
approval, including Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto
Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin;
Almost all other states have processes in place to develop and
submit plans to expand coverage to uninsured children;
States are taking advantage of CHIP's flexibility to develop
innovative programs that meet the unique needs of their populations;
for example, 12 states have proposed expanding coverage through Medicaid,
6 have proposed using block grants, and 5 have proposed a unique
combination of the two.
Continuing Work To Cover Uninsured Children. The rapid progress
of the Children's Health Insurance Program will help millions of
uninsured children get the health care coverage they need. However, this
program will not reach all uninsured children. There are currently four
million uninsured children that are eligible but not enrolled in
Medicaid. Today, the Administration reiterated its commitment to finding
ways to cover these children, by:
Enrolling children in schools and child care sites. The President's
budget proposes to allow states to enroll children in the places where
they are --specifically schools and child care cites;
Involving the private sector. Representatives of providers,
children's health groups, foundations, and a host of private sector
entities, such as pharmacies and grocery stores, have made new
commitments to help find and enroll these kids.