“As part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Congress created title XXI, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), to address the growing problem of children without health insurance. SCHIP was designed as a Federal/State partnership, similar to Medicaid, with the goal of expanding health insurance to children whose families earn too much money to be eligible for Medicaid, but not enough money to purchase private insurance. SCHIP is the single largest expansion of health insurance coverage for children since the initiation of Medicaid in the mid-1960s. SCHIP is designed to provide coverage to “targeted low-income children.” A “targeted low-income child” is one who resides in a family with income below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) or whose family has an income 50% higher than the state’s Medicaid eligibility threshold. Some states have expanded SCHIP eligibility beyond the 200% FPL limit, and others are covering entire families and not just children.” – Publisher’s description
