By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-10-21 15:06:32 | Word Count: 435
An announced expansion of coverage to the state’s children’s health insurance program could benefit the reported 78,000 uninsured kids statewide.
The ALL Kids Children’s Health Insurance Program, a low-cost state healthcare coverage program, has expanded its eligibility to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The Alabama Department of Public Health announced these changes would be effective beginning Oct. 1.
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“Many working families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but either do not have the income to buy health insurance in the private sector or it is not available through their jobs,” said State Health Officer Dr. Donald Williamson in a press release. “This expansion, which was made possible by the Alabama Legislature and a federal expansion, will allow as many as 14,000 additional children to receive coverage.”
According to the release, ALL Kids, which began more than 12 years ago, had previously provided government subsidized insurance to children from families whose incomes fall between the poverty line and twice the poverty level, while Medicaid provides coverage to children from families making below the federal poverty level.
The federal poverty guildeline for a family of four in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is an annual income of $21,200.
Benefits of the ALL Kids program include 12 months of continuous coverage, regular checkups and school physicals, doctor visits and emergency care, immunizations, mental health and substance abuse services, dental and vision care, prescriptions, hospital services and specialists.
To be eligible for ALL Kids, the child must be an Alabama resident who is under age 19 and not covered by any health insurance or eligible for dependent coverage under state employees’ insurance or public school insurance. The child must be a U.S. citizen or an eligible immigrant to be qualified for ALL Kids.
The program had 68,307 children enrolled in the program as of Aug. 31, with 847 of those children from Jackson County.
Parents enrolling their children in the program because of the expansion, according to the release, will pay $100 for their child annually, with a maximum of $300 per family.
