Leadership and Legacy: Oral Health Milestones in Maternal and Child Health Promotion and Prevention OHRC
SCHIP

1997

  • State Children’s Health Insurance Program established

Background

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 amended the Social Security Act by enacting Title XXI (State Children’s Health Insurance Program [SCHIP]). The purpose of the legislation was to provide funds to states to enable them to initiate and expand the provision of health assistance to children from families with low incomes without insurance in coordination with other sources of children’s health coverage.

Impact

SCHIP significantly expanded federal and state governments’ role in extending the availability of oral health care to children. Under SCHIP, states could extend coverage to children and adolescents under age 19 who did not have insurance, if they did not qualify for Medicaid and if their family income was below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The law provided for a higher federal match rate than Medicaid and allowed states the flexibility to cover oral health services and to determine reimbursement rates.

Sources

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) [website].

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Dental Care [website].

Kinlaw DH. 2001. Access to dental care: A historical review of Medicaid eligibility growth and dental productivity decline. Journal of Dental Education 65(9):849–860.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SCHIP Evaluation [website].

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