Washington (CNSNews.com) – The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the federal program designed to extend health coverage to the nation’s poorest children, would allow legal immigrants and middle class children – those from families making over $61,000 per year – access to a program originally intended for the poorest of the poor.
The Senate is poised to pass the legislation, which is on a fast track, to be ready for President-elect Barack Obama to sign when he takes office.
Members of the Senate Finance Committee marked up the Senate version of the bill Thursday, after the House overwhelming passed their version on Jan. 14.
Two previous versions have been vetoed by President Bush.
The bill would officially establish an income cap of 300 percent above the federal poverty line -- or $61,950 per year for a family of four. However, the bill allows for states to pay SCHIP benefits at incomes higher than 300 percent above poverty if they have sate laws or plans in place to cover kids above the 300 percent mark by the time the bill is signed.
Currently, only New Jersey is allowed to cover children from such families and only New York has passed a law expanding its coverage.
The bill also allows states to receive SCHIP funds if they expand the scope of their Medicaid coverage, something they can do on their own. If states choose to expand Medicaid coverage, they can cover children whose families make more than 300 percent of the poverty rate.
If states expand their Medicaid eligibility, by raising maximum income levels, they may use the SCHIP funds they receive to provide healthcare for the children of these new Medicaid families. This means that states may use Medicaid expansions to expand CHIP eligibility, because they can cover new Medicaid children with CHIP money.
Currently, nine states have expanded their Medicaid eligibility above 300 percent of the poverty level.
The bill also allows for immigrants, both legal and illegal, to access SCHIP funds, although illegal immigrants may only do so for 90 days.
The bill removes previous requirements, currently required under Medicaid, that mandate new enrollees provide photo identification and documentation proving citizenship, such as a green card or passport, when applying for SCHIP.
The new language strips this proposal and says that states can accept Social Security numbers as proof of citizenship, and that they must provide health coverage while those numbers are being verified. If a number cannot be verified, states must drop coverage after 90 days.
However, a Social Security number is the only proof of citizenship required under SCHIP and new enrollees are no longer required to offer proof of identification when enrolling. This provision would allow someone who has stolen a Social Security number to receive CHIP funds, so long as the theft is not discovered by the Social Security Administration – the agency responsible for tracking and issuing Social Security numbers.
The bill would also cover some parents of poor children as well as some single adults.
Currently, some states are allowed waivers to cover parents of poor children and some single adults, provisions which were eliminated by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
The new SCHIP bill would allow state to continue using federal funds to cover parents of very poor children, but would phase out covering single adults.