Coverage for the Uninsured<br />

Through its Voice for the Uninsured campaign, continued advocacy to reform the Medicare system, and its support of SCHIP legislation, the AMA continues to lead the fight to expand access to health care for all Americans.

State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

President Obama signed into law H.R. 2, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), P.L. 111-3. CHIPRA reauthorizes the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for four and a half years through Fiscal Year 2013, and provides additional funding of $32.8 billion to expand coverage to approximately 4 million children beyond the 7 million children currently covered under the program.

Key provisions include: a revised allotment formula to more accurately reflect each state's actual spending; incentive bonuses for states to enroll the lowest-income children; tools to encourage streamlined and simplified enrollment procedures; coverage of legal immigrant children and pregnant women without a five-year waiting period; changes to encourage states to use premium assistance programs to subsidize purchase of private health insurance; a new quality initiative; and a phase-out of adult coverage. Restrictions on physician-owned hospitals, which were included in the House-passed version of the reauthorization legislation, are not included in the final enacted bill. A more detailed summary of the new law's provisions is attached.

Read the AMA's summary of CHIPRA (PDF)

AMA letter to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi in support of H.R. 2 (PDF)

To learn more about the AMA's ongoing efforts to increase access to care, please visit the Voice for the Uninsured.