July, 2007: The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) covers 6 million kids whose parents work but can't afford insurance on their own. This year, Congress can reauthorize SCHIP and cover even more of America's uninsured kids.

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What Is SCHIP?

The Healthy Start Medicaid program is Ohio's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was enacted by Congress in 1997 to increase health insurance coverage for low-income children across the country. At the time, more than 10 million children lacked health insurance. About 7 million of them lived in families with incomes below twice the federal poverty level (today, that would be $34,340 for a family of three).₁ Although 75 percent of those uninsured children lived in a family with at least one parent who worked full-time, and 90 percent had a parent who worked either full or part-time,₂ their families either were not offered job-based health insurance or could not afford to buy the insurance that was offered.₃

The SCHIP program gave states a total of $40 billion over 10 years to provide health coverage for these children, who lived in families that earned too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance.

Find out more about SCHIP at Families USA.

Ohio's SCHIP program is Healthy Start.

Healthy Start & Healthy Families are Medicaid programs that offer families, children (up to age 19) and pregnant women with limited income access to free and low-cost health coverage. This program has recently been expanded to provide coverage to more Ohio families than ever before! Healthy Start & Healthy Families are Medicaid programs that provide eligible Ohio families with comprehensive health coverage. This means families get coverage for all of the following: doctor visits, prescriptions, hospital care, immunizations, vision & dental care, substance abuse, mental health services and more. Not only is this a great benefit package, but families who qualify for Healthy Start & Healthy Families will receive covered services at no cost.

Who qualifies?

Contrary to popular belief, most families receiving health coverage through Healthy Start or Healthy Families are working families. Families with income up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level can qualify for some form of coverage under the Healthy Start & Healthy Families programs. That's more than $36,000 per year for a family of four!

Families can get an application or general information by calling the Consumer Hotline at 1-800-324-8680. Hotline staff can answer questions or provide assistance in filling out the short 2-page application. The application can also be found on the internet or by contacting the local office of job and family services. Many families have heard of the Healthy Start & Healthy Families programs, but assume that it's part of welfare. This is NOT the case! Health care coverage can be stabilizing for families working hard to make ends meet.

See income guidelines to see where your family is at on the federal poverty level chart and learn more.

Other Action Alert Resources:

Cover the Uninsured

Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America

Universal Health Care Action Network

Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio

Health Care NOW

National Association of Community Health Centers

Ohio Association of Community Health Centers