SCHIP coverage for children of state employees

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act creates a new option for states to provide State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) coverage to children of state employees with qualifying household incomes. Previously, federal law prohibited states from using SCHIP funding to cover children of state employees who are eligible for state employees' health plans.

Arkansas Implementation

ARKids B, Arkansas's main SCHIP-funded program, does​ cover children of state employees with qualifying incomes (up to 200% of the federal poverty level) as allowed by the state's federal waiver. The state uses Title XIX Medicaid funding, however, not SCHIP funding, to cover those children. ARKids B currently covers nearly 6,000 children of state employees.

This funding strategy likely will change as Arkansas renews the federal waiver for ARKids B. Because SCHIP typically offers a higher federal match than Medicaid, Arkansas intends to amend its waiver to allow the state to receive SCHIP funding to cover the children of state employees enrolled in ARKids B.