Rate Of Children With Health Insurance Under CHIP In Wisconsin Is Slipping

A national report on a popular health insurance program for low-income children shows that gains in coverage rates are levelling off, while the rate of uninsured children in Wisconsin is better than the national average, but is slipping.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, provides coverage to children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid, but that can’t afford private coverage. A Georgetown study shows that in 2008, Wisconsin had the sixth-highest percentage of children covered under CHIP. In 2013, Wisconsin’s rank dropped to 14th.

Sashi Gregory, the health care policy analyst with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, said it’s time to cut the red tape and make it easier for families to sign up for the program.

“At the state level we would love to see more outreach for children, and at the national level reauthorization of the CHIP funding,” Gregory said.

Congress will have to decide whether to continue funding CHIP. The same children eligible for that funding could also be eligible for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, but national advocacy groups warn that private plans sold on the marketplace may be unaffordable and offer fewer benefits than CHIP.

Adding to the coverage concerns are changes at the state level: The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families says that coverage of children under a different program, BadgerCare, dropped over the last year by nearly 11,000. The group says it appears to be an indirect effect of Wisconsin tightening up BadgerCare eligibility for parents.