New Rules May Limit SCHIP Expansion

In a letter sent Friday to state health directors, the Bush administration laid out new rules for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, stating their intent to return to the program's "original focus on low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage." (NY Times, August 21, 2007). Critics called the new rules "highly restrictive." In the letter, Dennis G. Smith, the director of the federal Center for Medicaid and State Operations, said that any state wanting to raise eligibility for the child health program above 250 percent of the poverty level must first show they have “enrolled at least 95 percent of children in the state below 200 percent of the federal poverty level” who are eligible for either Medicaid or the child health program.