Garrett's SCHIP Mailer Numbers

Well it took some time to track down the numbers related to Representative Scott Garrett's mailer on the State Children's Health Insurance Program. I still haven't found all of them, but here's a few.

Since Garrett's folks are attacking the SCHIP program as a whole by attacking our program, I figured I'd check out what the official story is and pulled up the Annual Report for NJ's SCHIP program. . Unless otherwise linked, that will be the source for my figures. Unless otherwise linked, that will be the source for my figures.

First up:

43% of NJ's SCHIP grants are used to insure adults

In Fiscal Year 2008, NJ expects to spend 55% of its SCHIP funds on adults

Well, that's not what the Annual Report says. The Budget for regular SCHIP and expanded children's coverage is $448.7 million, with the 1115 Waiver program covering parents adding $206.2 million, for a grand total of $655 million. The portion covering adults this year is 31.4%, next year it's 30.7%.

Next up:

NJ has only a 69% SCHIP participation rate for families with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line.

Well, that number apparently includes an estimated 412,466 children Medicaid, and those with private insurance. There were 594,000 children living below 200% poverty last year, with 25% of them uninsured.

119,000 NJ children living under 200% of the federal poverty level remain uninsured though they qualify for the current SCHIP.

I'm not sure where this number comes from, however if it's accurate, considering the Annual Report cited a three year average of 125,000 eligible uninsured children from 2003-05, that means 6,000 more kids have been covered by either SCHIP, Medicaid, or private insurance. It also means that since the program started we've had a 28% drop in uninsured children below 200% poverty.

There's more to come...