How Texas Can Enroll All Kids and Cross the Finish Line
Enroll all eligible uninsured kids by eliminating bureaucratic roadblocks.
Three roadblocks are standing in the way of getting health coverage to Texas kids who are already eligible:
- The enrollment system is understaffed, under-trained, and under-equipped. When families apply for CHIP or Children's Medicaid their application doesn't always get processed quickly enough because:
- The state doesn't have enough workers processing applications;
- The worker shortage and high numbers of new workers means many aren't yet adequately trained; and
- Some eligibility computer systems are too slow and others make errors.
To eliminate this roadblock, the Health and Human Services Commission needs to:
- Hire additional workers to enroll children quickly;
- Fully train both the old and the new workers; and
- Speed up the computer systems and eliminate computer errors.
- Some families are still trapped by red tape. Until 2007, Texas families had to enroll eligible children in CHIP twice a year, adding costs for the state and doubling the chances that an uninsured child would fall through the cracks. The legislature eliminated that requirement last year, but only for CHIP. Now, we need to do the same for Children's Medicaid and cut the red tape that still reduces enrollment of eligible children. This will also make the enrollment system run more smoothly.
- For lots of families, CHIP and Children's Medicaid are the best kept secret in Texas. Many parents of eligible children either don't know about CHIP or Medicaid or are intimidated by an enrollment process that can still be complicated.
Texas needs to do a better job of letting these families know that coverage is available for their kids and of making that coverage easier to access. Specifically, Texas should:- Increase investment to enlist local organizations who know the community in spreading the word to parents; and
- Let eligible kids across Texas enroll at school- an approach proven to work in Houston.
Reach more uninsured kids.
As private health insurance has become more and more expensive, covering children has become more and more difficult for working families. In Texas, nearly half a million kids are ineligible for CHIP and Children's Medicaid because their working parents earn too much to qualify. These kids are uninsured because their parents still earn too little to afford costly private coverage. To cover these kids, we need a new approach that asks parents to pay a premium that increases as their income increases. Specifically:
- Working parents earning between $42,000 and $63,000 a year should be able to buy CHIP coverage for their uninsured children, paying a "sliding" premium that increases with income.
- Working parents earning over $63,000 should pay a premium that equals the full cost of covering their uninsured children through CHIP.