Get uninsured kids on SCHIP

A program that could provide coverage to millions of uninsured children is vastly underused. Physicians can help spread the word about it.

Editorial. Sept. 18, 2000.

Attempts in recent years to increase access to health care have largely amounted to a history of missed opportunities.

The latest example is especially poignant. It concerns a program that beat the odds and actually made it into law. Moreover, it is designed specifically to help children in families that cannot afford to insure them.

Many of America's 11 million uninsured children qualify for coverage under the State Children's Health Insurance Program. However, only about 2 million are enrolled. The reason, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation survey, is that many parents of children who may be eligible do not believe they qualify -- often because family incomes exceed caps enabling them to qualify for Medicaid. SCHIP assists them by providing federal grants to the states to expand Medicaid or create a new program for kids.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is spending up to $26 million to get the word out on SCHIP and Medicaid, through outreach programs. But the physician's office is also the right place to deliver the message that SCHIP coverage is obtainable.

There is a toll-free telephone number -- (877) KIDS-NOW -- that will link parents with the SCHIP program in their state and tell them if they qualify.

Most parents with eligible children say they would sign up if they knew they qualified. Now that opportunity is only a phone call away -- if they know to make the call.