More Virginia children than ever are receiving their health insurance from the state.
The number of youth enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is intended for families who earn too much to qualify for the federal Medicaid program but not enough to afford private insurance, has nearly tripled since 2001, from 32,587 to 91,406.
Nearly 450,000 children in Virginia are receiving health care through the two programs for the poor. The number enrolled in children’s Medicaid in the state has risen from 348,093 in February to 356,380 as of Aug. 1.
Virginia ranks 14th in the nation in SCHIP enrollment, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization that studies health care issues.
The number of uninsured is increasing as health care becomes more expensive, fewer companies offer coverage and the percentage of workers with employer-sponsored insurance drops, the foundation said. The nationwide trend has prompted families to turn to government programs for coverage, it added.
Genevieve Kenney, a researcher at the Urban Institute, a research center that analyzes public policy and management, said increased costs — as well as the faltering economy — are “push factors” that cause more families to turn to public health care programs.
“When private premiums go up, it does push families into public coverage, there’s no question about that,” she said. “These two forces are in play everywhere, and Virginia would absolutely be subject to those effects.”
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine created an extensive promotional campaign — including advertisements in English and Spanish — that has helped increase enrollment 24,000 in one insurance program for low-income households since he took office in 2006.
Robert Karch, professor of health and fitness at American University in Washington, said the increased enrollment in the programs has resulted from the growing awareness of such programs and consumers’ willingness to take advantage of them, as well as an increasing number of children living in the state.
“There are a number of ways to encourage people to seek health care earlier and at a lower cost,” he said. “The only way we’re going to deal with health care is to shift skills and responsibility back to the consumer.”
The enrollment increase has caused a spike in the programs’ cost for the state as Virginia officials grapple with continuing budget shortfalls.
The Department of Medical Assistance Services spent nearly $160 million in fiscal 2007, over $20 million more than in 2006 and almost double the approximately $87 million spent in 2004.
“The health care community is only so big, and it’s very costly,” Karch said. “It’s stretched — somebody has to pay for it.”
