Government
States changing public health access
■ An occasional snapshot of current facts and trends in medicine.
Quick View. Posted Feb. 9, 2009
| Increasing access |
Restricting access |
|
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility | Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina,* Tennessee, Wisconsin | Rhode Island, South Carolina* |
| Enrollment procedures | Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah | California |
| Premiums | Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin | Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island |
Nineteen states expanded access to public health coverage for low-income children, pregnant women and parents in at least one way. Ten states restricted access in at least one way. States made it easier or harder to obtain Medicaid or State Children's Health Insurance Program coverage by adjusting plan premiums, eligibility requirements or the enrollment process.
* South Carolina introduced simplified forms for enrollment of parents but also established a new waiting period for children.
Source: "Challenges of Providing Health Coverage for Children and Parents in a Recession," Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, January (link)
Copyright © 2009 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
