As Washington debates the future of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) PICO federations are winning state policy changes to cover more uninsured children.  PICO federations in Florida, Colorado, Alaska and Missouri all helped win legislation and regulatory changes to reduce the number of uninsured children in their states.

Alaska takes one step forward to expand eligibility for state's SCHIP program
Alaska Governor Palin signed legislation increasing eligibility for the state's SCHIP program from 154 to 175 percent of poverty, opening up coverage to thousands of Alaska children. Anchorage Faith & Action Congregations Together (AFACT) held a large rally for children's health in April and has been pressing the Legislature to expand eligibility to 200 percent of poverty and to allow families up to 300 percent to buy into the program.  AFACT is continuing to work to expand coverage at the state level and to win support from U.S. Senators Stevens and Murkowski for bi-partisan SCHIP legislation in Congress. For more information visit www.anchoragefact.org.

Colorado makes progress on children's health
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed legislation designed to put Colorado on the path to covering all 180,000 uninsured low-income children in the state by 2010.  The legislation makes it easier for children to enroll in Medicaid and the state's SCHIP program by allowing health providers to presume eligibility for some children, clarifies that pregnant women and children applying for SCHIP do not have to submit documents to verify lawful presence and establishes quality measures and reporting for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance.  It also creates a Community Advisory Committee to help the State develop policies and legislation for covering all low-income children over the next three years. Parallel legislation declares that a medical home is important and strives to provide medical homes for children in public health programs. PICO affiliate Metro Organizations for People (MOP) in Denver worked closely with the legislation's sponsors and has helped build grassroots support for children's coverage at the state and national level. MOP was an active partner in establishing the Colorado SCHIP Coalition, which has consistently pressed for a strong $50 billion SCHIP Reauthorization. For more information visit www.mopdenver.org

Missouri restores coverage to 6,000 low-income children
In Kansas City PICO's affiliate Communities Creating Opportunity has been working with state-wide partners to cover the more than 700,000 uninsured Missouri residents, including more than 114,000 who lost coverage as a result of Medicaid cuts in 2005. In May, as a step to changing current state policy, Missouri restored health benefits to 6,000 of the estimated 70,000 low-income children who lost coverage in 2005.  Legislators also agreed to study the expansion of presumptive eligibility to locations such as federally qualified health clinics that would make it easier for these centers to treat low-income children. Youth who are in foster care will also retain their health care coverage until they are 21. For more information please visit www.cco.org.

Florida makes administrative changes to ease child health enrollment
With state legislation to reform Florida's KidCare Health Insurance Program stalled, PICO federations in Florida, led by Orlando FOCUS and Congregations for Community Action (CCA) in Melbourne have been working successfully with the new Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the State's Chief Financial Officer to reduce administrative barriers to enrolling eligible children, including making it easier for families to apply on-line for coverage.  Florida has 700,000 uninsured children, but has been returning unused children's health funds to Washington, DC. PICO federations are continuing to work with legislators and the Governor's office to make KidCare available and accessible to uninsured low-income children in the state and to build support in the state's Congressional delegation for a strong Reauthorization of the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program.  For more information visit http://www.focusorlando.org/Accomplishments.html.