Thousands of Uninsured Children in Louisiana Will Now have Access to Regular Medical Care

Thousands of uninsured children in Louisiana will now have access to regular medical care through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems has announced.

Acting Administrator Weems announced earlier in the week, approval of a request by Governor Bobby Jindal to expand the state’s current SCHIP, called LaCHIP, at an event hosted by the governor at the state capitol.

“With today’s new expansion, the families of some 6,500 children can take comfort in knowing that those children can now receive high-quality, affordable health care,” Weems said.

Under this LaCHIP expansion, enrollment will be extended to children in families that have incomes up to 250 percent of the 2008 federal poverty level ($53,000 for a family of four). The benefit package is modeled on the state’s employee benefit plan. In 2006, the state’s program served 142,389 children in families with incomes up to 200 percent of FPL.

“I am pleased to support Louisiana in its commitment to the health care of its children and also pleased to share in this partnership going forward,” Weems said.

SCHIP is a federal-state partnership program enacted in 1997. Every state, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories operate SCHIP, which provides health insurance coverage to children in families with incomes too high for traditional Medicaid, but yet not enough to afford private coverage.

Nationwide, SCHIP provided health coverage to about 6.7 million children in fiscal year 2006.

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