Congressionally Mandated Evaluation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (Executive Summary)

Congress mandated in the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA) that the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services conduct an independent comprehensive study of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The evaluation was funded through the $10 million appropriation in the BBRA. An interim report was sent to Congress in 2003 that summarized states’ SCHIP designs and their early experiences with program implementation (Wooldridge et al. 2003). This final report presents findings from the congressionally mandated evaluation funded by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). The study focused mainly on SCHIP programs in California,Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. The evaluation drew on case studies and surveys of SCHIP enrollees and recent disenrollees in the 10 states. In addition, nationwide perspectives on SCHIP implementation and uninsured children’s access to care were provided by two national surveys—a survey of state SCHIP administrators, conducted as part of the evaluation, and a survey of low-income, uninsured families, separately funded by ASPE in support of the evaluation.