The State Children's Health Insurance Program Essay

The State Children's Health Insurance Program - Essay Example Before the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was enacted, Medicare and Medicaid was the only available, federally funded health insurance program offered by the government. Medicare was specifically designed to help the aged, the retirees, the survivors, and the disabled among others, pay for health care services like: inpatient hospitalization, home health care, hospice care, physician consult, outpatient hospital, prescription drugs, and the like (Klees, Wolfe, & Curtis, 2010). Medicaid, on the other hand, is the biggest source of government funding that covers medical, and other health-related services for the poorest people in the United States (Klees, Wolfe, & Curtis, 2010). However, Medicaid does not provide for all poor people; it covers only those who qualify for the inclusion criteria set by the legislators (Klees, Wolfe, & Curtis, 2010). The State Children’s Health Insurance Policy was established in 1997 to afford health care services to unins ured, low-income children; who were not eligible for Medicaid (American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP], 1997).