On 4th February, 2009, President Obama has signed a new bill into law and makes an additional four millions of children and teenagers under 18 years old in United States to be eligible for receiving health insurance and directly obtaining medical assistance. The act will be effective until 2013. For those kids and teens who are not covered by any health insurance for certain reasons previously, they are now eligible for it after the reauthorization of the act.
In fact, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has been introduced for quite a long time ago since 1997 but it was only limited for those who are from lower income families or those who are unable to obtain individual health insurance plan due to medical underwriting. This program has been providing health coverage to seven millions children. Initially it was designed to assist children as well as pregnant women in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford a private health insurance plan.
Basically, this program is jointly financed by the federal and state governments. Yet it is a state administered program. Each state in US has its own eligibility rules and conditions for providing health coverage to uninsured children. This year, the program has been enhanced with more benefits given to the children of the nation.