Illinois Receives HHS Approval To Expand CHIP Program to About 30,000 Low-Income Adults

Illinois has received a federal waiver to expand KidCare, the state's CHIP program, in stages, allowing up to 29,000 low-income parents to receive health insurance coverage in the initial phase, the Chicago Tribune reports. HHS approved the waiver to expand the program, which offers health coverage only for low-income children and pregnant women, to include some parents and caregivers; the program will be renamed FamilyCare when additional enrollment begins in October (Holt, Chicago Tribune, 9/13). In the first phase of the expansion, parents who have annual incomes of up to 49% of the federal poverty level, or about $8,800 for a family of four, will be eligible for FamilyCare (HHS release, 9/12). The federal government will use $24 million in unspent CHIP program funds from other states to pay for the program's expansion. In the second stage, Illinois officials plan to expand FamilyCare by 300,000 parents over the next five years. Under that plan, Illinois would pay 35% of the cost of the expansion, about $80 million to $100 million annually (Chicago Tribune, 9/13). Parents with annual incomes up to 185% of the federal poverty level, or about $33,000 for a family of four, would be eligible. The waiver also allows the state to receive federal subsidies to assist workers in paying for employer-sponsored health premiums that are "too expensive" (HHS release, 9/12). HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said the waiver should increase the number of children enrolled in Illinois' CHIP program because parents will "have an added incentive of gaining health insurance for themselves," the Tribune reports (Chicago Tribune, 9/13).