Issue Brief Summary

From Policy to People:
The Implementation Maze New Jersey KidCare: A Case in Process
February 18, 1998

The issue of uninsured children (over 200,000 New Jersey children lack health insurance or comprehensive health care coverage) had gained prominence since 1996 through large-scale changes to the Medicaid program, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the enactment (as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997) of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), codified as Title XXI. This brief focuses on the issues surrounding the implementation of programs aimed at covering uninsured children. Describes the federal CHIP program as a catalyst for states to implement programs for children's health care by either expanding already-existing Medicaid programs; or by creating or designing new programs. Discusses state trends in covering uninsured children, with a special focus on New Jersey KidCare, which is comprised of both a Medicaid expansion and Title XXI components. Includes a section on the critical role of outreach and three tables showing: (1) "Children Under Age 19, Uninsured, By State, 1993"; (2) CHIP Implementation Actions of New Jersey and its neighbors of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland; and (3) "New Jersey Profile of Child Health Coverage, 1997," with sections on children in representative socio-economic, racial and ethnic groups and the types of health insurance under which they are covered. [12pp]

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