Government
Bill would invest in enrolling kids in Medicaid, SCHIP
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 6, 2005
Legislation that would provide $100 million in funding for outreach efforts to enroll children in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program was recently introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD (R, Tenn.), and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D, N.M.).
In 2002, the most recent year for which data are available, there were 8.5 million uninsured children in the country, nearly 5 million of whom were eligible for coverage through SCHIP or Medicaid, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"Covering children is not only the right thing to do, but by ensuring that children have access to preventive care, it is also one of the best ways of reducing long-term strain on America's health care system," Dr. Frist said in a statement.
In a letter of support for the legislation, AMA Executive Vice President Michael Maves, MD, wrote that the AMA has "long-standing policy urging states to undertake, and physicians to participate in, educational and outreach activities aimed at Medicaid-eligible and SCHIP-eligible children."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/06/06/gvbf0606.htm.
