If the plan is not reapproved, the State Children's Insurance Program (SCHIP) will expire on September 30th of this year. This plan, Title XXI, was passed by Congress in 1997 with the goal of providing health insurance to the 9 million uninsured children in the U.S. Many of these children are uninsured because their families' incomes are too high for Medicaid but too low to make private health insurance affordable. SCHIP coverage only costs these families 5% of their gross income and many children can get SCHIP coverage for free. Although this program has been a step in the right direction, as many as 2 million children who qualify for SCHIP coverage still lack health insurance, in part due to insufficient funding. 
   Both Congress and President Bush want to continue the program, and several House and Senate committees are developing a proposal to reauthorize SCHIP. Since SCHIP has yet to meet its goal of providing all of America's uninsured children with health insurance, many officials are calling for revisions to SCHIP. Some have proposed a reversal of policies that prevent the enrollment of children of state employees and force children of documented immigrants to wait five years before enrolling in the program. They also want to expand the progrqam in order to enroll more eligible children. 
   It is important that every child in this country has health insurance. If your child does not qualify for state coverage, then Health Plan One can help you find an affordable health insurance plan for either an individual or a family.

For more information about SCHIP visit: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/home/schip.asp