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"Prenatal care for women and their babies is a crucial part of the medical care every person should have through the course of their life cycle," Secretary Thompson said. "Prenatal services can be a vital, life-long determinant of health, and we should do everything we can to make this care available for all pregnant women. It is one of the most important investments we can make for the long-term good health of our nation."

The proposed regulation, to be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks, would clarify the definition of "child" under the SCHIP program. At present, SCHIP allows states to provide health care coverage to targeted low-income children under age 19. States may further limit their coverage to age groups within that range.

The new regulation would clarify that states may include coverage for children from conception to age 19. This would mean that pregnant women can receive prenatal and delivery care.

"While Medicaid already provides prenatal care for many low-income women, there are still tens of thousands every year who are not eligible under current regulations until after their child is born, or who may even then not qualify under Medicaid even though their child will indeed qualify under SCHIP," Secretary Thompson said. "The change we are proposing would make SCHIP resources available to states immediately to expand prenatal care for low-income women."

Altogether, an estimated 10.9 million women of child-bearing age (18-44) do not have health insurance.

Secretary Thompson also highlighted the support in Congress for improving prenatal care in SCHIP. Secretary Thompson praised Sens. Kit Bond of Missouri, John Breaux of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine for "bipartisan leadership in supporting S.724, a bill that would allow states to provide prenatal coverage for low-income women through the SCHIP program. We support this legislative effort in this Congress. We are pleased to be able to take administrative action to achieve the goal of making more prenatal coverage available in the fastest way possible," he said.

SCHIP was enacted with bipartisan support in 1997 with total 10-year funding authorized at $40 billion. Although states hurried to design programs, a substantial portion of the available funds are still unused. "This means resources can be available to states immediately to provide expanded prenatal care, with most of the cost being borne by federal dollars," Secretary Thompson said.

Under SCHIP, about 70 percent of spending by the state programs is paid by federal funds.

In his budget Feb. 4, President Bush will propose extending the availability of $3.2 billion in unused SCHIP funds that are due to expire in fiscal year 2002 and fiscal year 2003. Thus states would continue to have access to SCHIP funds until in fiscal year 2006. Several states have also adopted extended plans to make SCHIP coverage available to the parents of eligible children, and Secretary Thompson has encouraged further use of such expansions with the creation of an expedited process for states to expand Medicaid and SCHIP coverage - Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability waivers.

Under SCHIP, states have authority to set eligibility requirements for their programs. Therefore states would not be required to extend coverage to children not yet born. The option to make this extension of coverage would be available following publication of a final regulation, which would take place only after comments on the proposal are received and analyzed. The process could be complete this spring, Secretary Thompson said.

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