Arizona will begin taking applications on July 26, 2016, for its government-sponsored health-insurance program KidsCare; coverage will begin September 1, 2016. As a result, the population of uninsured Arizona children, currently around 162,000, is projected to drop significantly this fall, as an estimated 34,278 Arizona children would be eligible for KidsCare upon reinstatement of the program.
KidsCare, the Arizona version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), is administered by the state’s Medicaid program, which is known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Officials with AHCCCS expect that within its first year of being newly active, KidsCare will enroll 30,000 to 40,000 Arizona children. Arizona is the only state without an active CHIP program. According to a study by the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, the state has the third-highest rate of uninsured children in the U.S.
Opponents of KidsCare have expressed concern that Arizona will eventually have to pick up the tab for the program, as federal dollars are only appropriated to cover the cost of the program for the next year. Supporters said reopening the program was the moral thing to do for Arizona children.
KidsCare
Enrollment in KidsCare was frozen in 2010 after Arizona decided to cut eligibility and phase out CHIP benefits over time. KidsCare II, a temporary hospital financing agreement meant to fill the gap due to frozen enrollments beginning in 2010 until new coverage options were available to Arizona families with the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (P.L. 111-148), was terminated at the end of January 2014.
An earlier Georgetown study observed that the termination of KidsCare resulted in families paying more for alternative subsidized health care coverage while receiving fewer benefits under that coverage (see Arizona CHIP discontinuation results in higher prices, less coverage, Health Law Daily, May 9, 2014).