Publications by Ruth A. Almeida for Health Policy Center

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This brief examines the experience of four states -- Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin -- which have used waivers to cover parents under their State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The brief explores the reasons that these states chose to cover parents, and their early experiences with parental coverage. The experience of these initial four states shows that, once offered, the demand for such coverage is high and SCHIP waivers can be a relatively straightforward way to implement family coverage.

The authors found that virtually all of the 18 states studied included dental benefits in their SCHIP programs and that the scope of benefits provided is quite broad, although not as comprehensive as Medicaid. Co-payments on dental services were nominal in most separate SCHIP programs. Several states used SCHIP to test new delivery systems - particularly managed care arrangements - to deliver dental services. Under separate SCHIP programs, some states raised dental payment levels above Medicaid's and simplified administrative and billing procedures. While improvements in access may be occurring under separate SCHIP dental programs, the authors conclude that widespread improvements in oral health for low-income children may be seen only if these improvements are extended to Medicaid.

Develop a typology categorizing state efforts to provide health insurance coverage for children to examine cross-state variation in insurance coverage.

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