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GAO-01-993R 1 (2001-07-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptanta0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability * Integrity Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 July 25, 2001 The Honorable Christopher S. Bond Ranking Minority Member Committee on Small Business United States Senate Subject: Children's Health Insurance: SCHIP Enrollment and ExDenditure Information Dear Senator Bond: The Congress created the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997 to reduce the number of low-income uninsured children in families with incomes that are too high to qualify for Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides health care coverage to certain categories of low-income adults and children.' The Congress appropriated $40 billion over 10 years (fiscal years 1998 through 2007) for SCHIP and, on the basis of a formula accounting for the number of a state's low-income children, allocates funds annually to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. commonwealths and territories. Each state's SCHIP allotment is available as a federal match based on state expenditures. Although the SCHIP statute generally targets children in families with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, 13 states' programs cover children in families above 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Expanding the SCHIP-eligible population beyond children to include adults is an issue of ongoing interest. Some analysts have suggested that providing health 'Established as title XXI of the Social Security Act by Public Law 105-33, SCHIP is set out at 42 U.S.C. § 1397aa et seq. 2SCHIP and Medicaid both are financed jointly by the states and the federal government under a formula in which a state's share of program expenditures is based on its per capita income in relation to the national average. The federal share of expenditures for Medicaid can range from 50 to 83 percent, with the national average federal matching rate at about 57 percent. SCHIP offers an enhanced federal matching rate derived from the states' Medicaid rate, with a national average federal share of about 70 percent. Each state's SCHIP match is equal to 70 percent of its Medicaid matching rate plus 30 percentage points, not to exceed a federal share of 85 percent. 3Two hundred percent of the federal poverty level translated to $35,300 for a family of four in 2001. The statute allows a state to expand eligibility to 200 percent of the poverty level or up to 50 percentage points above its Medicaid eligibility standard as of March 31, 1997. See 42 U.S.C. § 1397jj(b)(1)(B)(ii)(I). GAO-0 1-993R SCHIP Enrollment and Expenditures

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