SCHIP: It Works

The State Children's Health Insurance Program

SCHIP: An Investment in Our Nation's Children
Since 1997, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has provided health coverage to children whose parents work but cannot afford or are not offered health insurance. Because of SCHIP, more than 7 million children can now see a doctor when they are sick and get the health care they need to stay healthy.¹

Since SCHIP began 10 years ago, the program has effectively reduced the number of children living without health insurance by more than a third.² SCHIP has also provided coverage for children at a time when the number of uninsured adults has been on the rise.³

Ensuring that America's kids have the health coverage they need is an important investment in our country's future. Children with health coverage are better prepared to learn in school and succeed in life.⁴ They are also more likely to get the care they need when they need it.⁵ An evaluation of SCHIP showed that children who enrolled in SCHIP had fewer asthma-related attacks and had significant improvements in the quality of care they received.⁶

Percentage of Children Under Age 18 Without Health Insurance, 1994-2006

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates from the Current Population Survey, March 1995-2007 Supplements. Note: 1994-2003 data are adjusted for Census correction announced in March 2007.

There's More Work to Be Done
Despite the success of SCHIP, there are more than 9 million children living without health insurance—more than the total number of kids enrolled in the first and second grades in U.S. public schools.⁷ Most uninsured kids come from families in which a parent works full time.⁸ Children who are uninsured suffer the consequences:

• Uninsured children are more than three times as likely as insured kids not to visit a doctor in the course of a year.⁹
• Uninsured children are less likely to receive care for childhood illnesses such as sore throats, earaches and asthma.¹⁰
• More than half (53%) of all uninsured kids did not have a "well-child" check up in the past year—more than double the rate of kids with insurance.¹¹

Go to www.CoverTheUninsured.org [1] to find out more about children's health coverage and what you can do to get America's kids covered.