SCHIP, Medicaid Expansions Lead to Shifts in Children's Coverage

Publication Date: December 2002

Publisher: Center for Studying Health System Change

Author(s): Peter J. Cunningham; James D. Reschovsky; Jack Hadley

Research Area: Health

Type: Brief

Abstract:

Recent expansions of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid have led to significant shifts in insurance coverage for children. New findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) show that the proportion of low-income children who were uninsured dropped from 20.1 percent in 1997 to 16.1 percent in 2001, a result of significant increases in public program coverage. The net effect of these gains in coverage was limited, however, by a decline in private insurance coverage (from 47% in 1997 to 42.3% in 2001). The drop in private insurance was due, in part, to substitution of public for private insurance coverage.