Number of Children Enrolled in Idaho’s Medicaid, CHIP Programs Increases Despite Lack of Advertising

A new Idaho Health and Welfare Department report has found that the number of children enrolled in the state's Medicaid and CHIP programs has increased despite a decision by state lawmakers earlier this year to end an advertising campaign for the CHIP program, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reports. State lawmakers, concerned about costs for the state's Medicaid program, which includes the Medicaid-expansion CHIP program, passed a bill last spring to end a $500,000 television and radio ad campaign that ran from February 2000 to October 2000. Since last October, Idaho has not advertised for either Medicaid or CHIP. Karl Kurtz, director of the state Health and Welfare Department, said, "The department has greatly curtailed its CHIP outreach effort. ... We are doing the bare minimum for outreach allowed by federal law." However, state Sen. Stan Hawkins (R), who sponsored the legislation, said Oct. 26 that the number of children covered in Medicaid and CHIP "is growing too quickly." The number of children enrolled in Idaho's Medicaid program has reached 100,000, almost double the figure in 1999, while the state's CHIP program covers about 13,000 children. Although the state has enrolled a "relatively small" number of children in CHIP, the Spokesman-Review reports that a number of families have inquired about CHIP for children and found that they "actually qualified for regular Medicaid," which has resulted in "large increases" in enrollment. However, the department has found that Medicaid had the "steepest increases" in the number of children enrolled before the department began the CHIP ad campaign last year. After the ad campaign ended, "growth has continued at a lower rate," the department found. The Spokesman-Review reports that the number of children enrolled in Idaho's Medicaid program will likely reach 115,000 by 2003 (Russell, Spokane Spokesman-Review, 10/30). For further information on state health policy in Idaho, visit State Health Facts Online.