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House gives boost to CHIP program By Daniel K. Lai State lawmakers debated well into the night Tuesday before overwhelmingly voting to expand the state's low-cost health insurance program for children which has been plagued by declining enrollment for the past four years. “By expanding the renewal time frame for individuals and loosening the guidelines for more children to qualify for assistance has been greatly desired,” Bride Roberts, assistant director of community health education and social services for the Williamson County and Cities Health District, said. According to a recent study conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - which seeks to promote health coverage for all Americans - at 30.7 percent, Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured residents in the country. House Bill 109, expands the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) renewal time from six months to one year and is expected to add 100,000 children to the program's list at a cost to the state of $78 million for the next two years. In addition, the bill would allow families to deduct child care expenses from their income and retain more money in savings accounts than was previously allowed under existing eligibility rules. “Most people are concerned about insuring children,” Roberts said. “If we can ensure healthcare for a child we can provide them with long term healthy lives.” CHIP is designed for families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, yet cannot afford to buy private insurance for their children. CHIP provides eligible children with coverage for a full range of health services including regular checkups, immunizations, prescription drugs, lab tests, X-rays and hospital visits. Toby Hooper, community outreach manager for Insure a Kid, an agency that helps uninsured Central Texas families obtain enrollment in non-commercial health care coverage programs, said currently 3,348 children in Williamson County are enrolled in CHIP as compared to 4,997 in 2003. Hooper said the rate of re-enrollment statewide is roughly 58 percent compared to 67 percent in 2003. According to a 2006 Texas Health and Human Services Commission report, CHIP enrollment is influenced by several factors, including state and federal policies that establish the eligibility guidelines for the program, the state's job market, the level of poverty and the availability of employer-based insurance. The study found the leading cause for disenrollment in the program was based on a new state-mandated requirement to verify income and test for Medicaid eligibility. “The most common reasons for disenrollment in 2006 were failure to return a renewal packet, failure to return required information, families exceeding CHIP income limits and family income that qualified for Medicaid coverage,” the report states. In addition, The Texas Health and Human Services Commission established an assets test for CHIP families modeled after similar rules for food stamps and Medicaid. The rules ensured that families earning more than 150 percent of the federal poverty level were not enrolled in CHIP if they owned vehicles or boats with a trade-in value of more than $15,000 or had bank accounts that exceed $5,000. Before these changes, a family's income could go unverified for years while still maintaining enrollment in CHIP. According to the THHSC report, in 2006, families found ineligible for CHIP due to the assets test included one with more than $50,000 in savings, a family with a 2006 Lincoln Town Car and another with a 2005 GMC Yukon. One family was found to own a 2004 Toyota Sequoia, a 2003 Toyota Camry and a 2000 Mitsubishi Diamante. Hooper said CHIP enrollment declined in the first half of 2006 before rebounding in the fall. Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Dist. 52, said he hopes the legislation will help the program continue to foster healthy, productive citizens for Texas without creating welfare dependency. “I hope it passes the Senate very close to its current form because the children who are added to this program will be better off and so will our state, now and for our future,” he said. The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate later this month.
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