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HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced approval of Illinois's children's health insurance program, which will provide health coverage for tens of thousands of uninsured children in the state within the next three years.

Illinois could receive as much as $123 million in new funds for fiscal 1998, which state officials will use to insure as many as 40,000 children within the next three years. The program is the result of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) -- historic, bipartisan legislation signed last year by President Clinton. The law allocates $24 billion over the next five years to help states expand health insurance to children whose families earn too much for traditional Medicaid, yet not enough to afford private health insurance.

Shalala also announced approval today of New York's CHIP program. Illinois and New York bring to eight the number of states whose CHIP plans have been approved since funding became available Oct. 1, 1997. Together, these eight states anticipate insuring more than one million currently uninsured children within the next three years.

"CHIP plans are now in place to provide coverage for one million uninsured children. We are making significant progress in providing health insurance to more American children," Shalala said. "Many of these children come from working families who don't earn enough to afford coverage for their kids. CHIP is bringing healthier lives to America's children, and peace of mind to America's working families."

Illinois, which currently insures 767,000 children in its Medicaid program, will expand eligibility for children up to age 19 whose families have incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. (The poverty level is $16,450 for a family of four.) Prior to the CHIP expansion, the income level for Medicaid eligibility varied based on the age of the child. Under the new program, income thresholds have been equalized.

"We are pleased that Illinois is ready to move ahead in providing the health care coverage that is so critical to a bright future for the state's children," said Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), which runs the CHIP, Medicaid and Medicare programs.

CHIP gives states three options for devising a plan to cover uninsured children: designing a new children's health insurance program; expanding current Medicaid programs; or a combination of both strategies. HHS must approve each state's plan before CHIP funds become available.

"With CHIP we're doing more than putting an insurance card into parents' hands," said Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., acting administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the agency working with HCFA and states to implement CHIP. "We're extending a hand to families, helping them enroll in the new program and put their children into high quality, comprehensive health care that will keep them healthy, learning and growing."

For the first year of the program, allotments totaling $4.3 billion are available to states whose plans are approved by HHS by Sept. 30, 1998. In addition to the eight states which have been approved--Alabama, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, California, New York and Illinois--these states and Puerto Rico have submitted plans: Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Oregon, New Jersey, Idaho, Nevada, Vermont and Wisconsin.

"Securing access to decent health care for children is among the highest priorities of the President, the First Lady and myself," said Secretary Shalala. "Getting the CHIP program up and running is an important first step toward guaranteeing a healthy future for America's children."

Note: HHS press releases are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.hhs.gov.