FAQ
Q: What is the cost of enrolling my child in CHIP or Children's Medicaid?
A: If your child qualifies for Children's Medicaid, there are no enrollment fees or co-pays. For CHIP, depending on the size of your family, you will pay $50 or less for an entire year of coverage. Most co-pays for doctor visits and prescription drugs range from $3 to $10.
Q: How can I enroll or renew my child in CHIP or Children's Medicaid?
A: Our Texas legislators recently made it easier to enroll in CHIP by asking families to apply for CHIP once a year instead of twice. In just the first two months after the rules changed, CHIP enrollment rose by 40,000 kids.
Texas needs to make this change to Children's Medicaid so that it can also be more efficient. By making Children's Medicaid a one-year (instead of a twice a year) application, paperwork will be cut in half for both working families and state agencies. At the same time, the state will save money on paperwork and more kids will get enrolled (and hopefully stay enrolled) in health insurance.
Enroll your kids in CHIP and Medicaid at http://www.chipmedicaid.org/english/apply.htm or by calling 1-877-543-7669. If you are having trouble getting or renewing Children's Medicaid or CHIP or have any questions, call the Children's Defense Fund at 713-664-4080.
If you have had trouble enrolling your child through CHIP and Children's Medicaid, Share Your Story.
Q: Are the doctors who take CHIP and Children's Medicaid different from other doctors?
A: No. Because Children's Medicaid and CHIP are part of a public-private partnership, your child will be seeing the same high-quality doctors as children who are covered by private insurance plans.
Q: Why don't all Texas children have private health insurance?
A: The average cost of private family insurance is $11,000 a year, or $917 a month. Nearly half of working-age Texans do not receive health insurance through their jobs.
The lack of employer-sponsored health insurance and the exploding costs of private insurance have left 500,000 Texas children uninsured but over the income limit for public coverage. By strengthening CHIP and Children's Medicaid and offering new options for families who earn too much to qualify under current eligibility limits but not enough to afford private health insurance, we can cover all Texas children.
Q: Why can't uninsured kids just rely on the emergency room for health care?
A: Emergency rooms are for emergencies, and we should do everything we can do to ensure they are ready for action when crisis strikes. Children should not rely on the emergency room for all of their health care needs. Instead, children need preventive care from a regular doctor to keep minor illnesses from becoming full blown medical crises. And children with chronic conditions like asthma need regular care to prevent ER visits and hospital stays.
It makes financial sense for a child to get preventive care. For example, a typical visit for asthma symptoms in a doctor's office costs $100. However, if a child does not get adequate care and visits the ER with a severe asthma attack, the cost spirals to $7,000. These costs are shifted into higher private health insurance premiums and increased local taxes.