With Congress poised to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with a substantial increase in its federal funding, there are potentially new opportunities for reducing the estimated 9 million uninsured children nationwide. At the same time, the nation’s weak economy and growing unemployment is resulting in fewer families and children covered by employer-sponsored coverage.

Against that backdrop, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) released a package of new reports and other materials examining trends in children’s health coverage and the outlook for efforts to expand access to coverage in the future.

The materials were released at a January 23, 2009, policy briefing.

Challenges of Providing Health Coverage for Children and Parents in a Recession: A 50 State Update on Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2009

Next Steps in Covering Uninsured Children: Findings from the Kaiser Survey of Children’s Health Coverage

Covering Uninsured Children: Reaching and Enrolling Citizen Children With Non-Citizen Parents

Chartpack: Health Insurance Coverage of America’s Children

Enrolling Uninsured Low-Income Children in Medicaid and SCHIP

Updated Children’s Health Coverage Timeline

Materials from the January 23, 2009, briefing:

Webcast and Transcript of Briefing

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For KFF reference:/healthcast/kff/23jan09%20