SCHIP: State Children's Health Insurance Program

Abstract

After the flurry of legislative activity in the late 1980's to expand Medicaid for pregnant women and children, the move from federalism to states' rights led to incremental health care program expansion. Despite the increased coverage in current programs, the number of uninsured women and children has increased since 1990. During 1997, 13.7 percent of all pregnant women (about 465,000) were uninsured (March of Dimes, 1999) as were 11.3 million children under the age of 18 (Children's Defense Fund, 1998).