Children's Health Insurance
Children's health insurance is a way to provide health insurance for children and their families. The United States Department of Health and Human Services administers the program. The federal government matches the funds provided by states to help families afford health insurance for their children. This program provides a variety of coverage options to children and their families.
Medicaid
You can qualify for Medicaid children's health insurance if you have a young child. It's the government's way of providing health coverage to children and their families. It's free for parents and available to children from low-income families in all 50 states. This program is administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It provides matching funds for state health insurance to eligible families with children.
To get Medicaid children's health insurance, you must meet certain requirements. To qualify, you must have a low income or be under 150 percent FPL. If you have no employer, Medicaid may be your best option.
CHIP
The federal government has developed the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to provide affordable health care for low-income children. This program was originally enacted in 1997 and now covers almost a third of children in the United States. The federal government and states fund it. The HEALTHY KIDS Act of 2009 authorized the program's funding and requires states to match federal funds with state dollars.
Some states have different eligibility requirements. For example, some states have a minimum income threshold of 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines, while others have higher limits. Most states call their CHIP program a Medicaid expansion program, while states that run separate child health programs typically use separate names.
Pregnant women
There are various options for pregnant women who wish to receive comprehensive health insurance coverage. Medicaid and CHIP coverage for pregnant women can help ensure that a mother's health is adequately protected and can support optimal pregnancy outcomes. It can also help build a strong mother-child bond. This brief describes existing options and outlines federal minimum standards that can be used to align health coverage for pregnant women and their newborn children.
The Affordable Care Act requires insurers and new group health plans to cover certain services for pregnant women. For example, they must cover antenatal visits, well-women visits, and certain key prenatal care services. However, women may have to pay for a portion of some services during pregnancy, and that cost sharing is based on household income, plan type, and APTC eligibility.
Child health plus eligibility tables
Child Health Plus is a government health insurance program for low-income families. Unlike other types of health insurance, this program has no co-payments or deductibles. Instead, you pay a monthly premium for services covered by Medicaid or an Essential Plan. In some states, you can apply for Child Health Plus at any time if you meet certain income requirements.
Child health quality measures
When buying children's health insurance, paying attention to child health quality measures is important. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has a database of quality measures for children. These measures include the availability of care, how providers treat acute and chronic conditions, and how families experience care.
AHRQ and CMS have partnered to develop a Child Core Set of quality measures for children's health insurance. This quality measure program is based on research in real-world settings. This program is one of several programs aimed at improving children's health care quality.
