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March of Dimes Statement on Report Examining Early State Experiences with SCHIP and Children with Special Health Care Needs Washington, DC, June 13, 2001—The following is a statement by the March of Dimes regarding the Urban Institute’s release today of Are We Responding to Their Needs? States’ Early Experience Serving Children with Special Health Care Needs under SCHIP. The March of Dimes is committed to ensuring access to needed health coverage for premature babies, infants, and children born with birth defects and other serious medical conditions and is pleased to have helped sponsor the Urban Institute report, Are We Responding to Their Needs? States’ Early Experience Serving Children with Special Health Care Needs under SCHIP, authored by Ian Hill and others. Many infants born with birth defects and children with other complex chronic conditions need specialized medical care beyond the schedule of routine check-ups, immunizations, and other preventive services that all American children should receive. The March of Dimes is encouraged by the study’s early findings and is cautiously optimistic about the long-term findings. The report identifies key issues in ensuring that these children with special health care needs enrolled under the various State Children’s Health Insurance Programs around the country have access to those services when they need them. The report underscores the need for ensuring a system of prompt enrollment of newborns and other eligible children. Of great concern to the March of Dimes is that waiting periods intended to limit SCHIP to uninsured children may be a particular barrier to enrollment for seriously ill children who are not uninsured, but have very limited coverage. The March of Dimes will use these findings as well as those of other policy research studies as we continue to advocate for improvements to SCHIP and other federal and state policies designed to improve access to needed health coverage for women and children. |
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