Enacted as title XXI of the Social Security Act in 1997, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) provides health insurance coverage for uninsured children living in families with income that is modest but too high for them to be eligible for Medicaid. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) paper—prepared at the request of the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee—summarizes the key features of SCHIP, provides information on historical trends in enrollment and federal spending, summarizes the evidence on the effects of the program on children's insurance coverage, and discusses key issues that are likely to arise as the Congress considers reauthorization of the program this year. In keeping with CBO's mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, this paper makes no recommendations.
Noelia Duchovny and Lyle Nelson of CBO's Health and Human Resources Division prepared the report under the supervision of James Baumgardner and Bruce Vavrichek. Carol Frost provided assistance with the data analysis. Tom Bradley, Jeanne De Sa, Tim Gronniger, Arlene Holen, Donald Marron, Eric Rollins, and Sven Sinclair, all of CBO, provided comments on drafts, as did Jeanne Lambrew of the George Washington University, Anthony T. Lo Sasso of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Kosali I. Simon of Cornell University. (The assistance of external reviewers implies no responsibility for the final product, which rests solely with CBO.)
John Skeen edited the paper, and Christine Bogusz proofread it. Maureen Costantino designed the cover and prepared the report for publication. Lenny Skutnik produced the printed copies, Linda Schimmel coordinated the print distribution, and Simone Thomas prepared the electronic versions for CBO's Web site.
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