1. 2005 Federal Poverty Levels Med-QUEST published their new gross monthly household income limits. The increases are retroactive to 1 January 2005, therefore we recommend that if children were recently denied because their household is slightly over income that the parents or guardians reapply. You can access revised charts several ways: a. Download information in PDF format on Med-QUEST's medical assistance standards (DHS1134.pdf) and what documents Med-QUEST needs (2whatdoc.pdf): Library of Forms b. Download a chart comparing income guidelines for Med-QUEST, WIC, Head Start, and school lunch programs and quickly view Med-QUEST's monthly income guidelines for children and pregnant women: Our Community: Income Guidelines c. Download two-sided Hawai`i Covering Kids flyers in PDF format in fourteen languages (Chinese, Chuukese, English, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Japanese, Korean, Marshallese, Pohnpeian, Samoan, Tagalog, Tongan, Vietnamese, and Visayan) and refer to page two: Hot Happenings: Flyers and Media Outreach Campaigns 2. More Middle-Class Families Enrolling Children in Public Health Insurance Programs An increasing number of middle-class families are enrolling their children in public health insurance programs instead of employer-sponsored health insurance to save money on premiums, says The Wall Street Journal as reported by the Kaiser Network. CHIP has seen the biggest rise in enrollment, which rose by 9 percent in 2003 to total 5.8 million children nationwide. A study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that the proportion of U.S. workers with employer-sponsored health insurance fell from 74.4 percent in 2000 to 71.5 percent in 2003. 3. Gains in Children's Health Insurance But Additional Progress Needed This paper by Lisa Dubay and Genevieve Kenney examines changes in children's health insurance coverage following the creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1997 and assesses prospects for further progress. The researchers used data from the National Survey of America's Families to assess how health insurance changed between 1999 and 2002 for children overall and by income. Estimates are provided for children in low-income families (with incomes below 200 percent of poverty) and higher income families (with incomes above 200 percent of poverty) for four coverage categories (employer-sponsored, Medicaid/CHIP, other coverage, and uninsured). The results indicate that children gained coverage between 1999 and 2002. In all, 1.8 million fewer children lacked health insurance in 2002 and gains were concentrated among children in low-income families. Despite these improvements, close to 8 million children are still uninsured, many of whom lack access to employer-sponsored health insurance but qualify for Medicaid or CHIP. Additional improvements in coverage for low-income children hinge on states maintaining and expanding their commitment to covering children through Medicaid and CHIP with fiscal crises facing states. An expanded federal role in the financing of these programs is likely needed for continued progress in covering the nation's low-income children and youth. 4. CHIP Takes a Bite Out of the Dental Access Gap for Low-Income Children Before the introduction of the State Children's Health Insurance program (CHIP) in 1997, many low-income children had no dental insurance, significant barriers to dental care, and were disproportionately more likely to have untreated dental disease. This report examines the connection between CHIP and access to dental care for these children based on annual report data from twenty-seven states. Low-income children had improved access to dental care after enrolling in CHIP and most state CHIP coverage met or exceeded the Healthy People 2010 objectives for dental care. Although some barriers still remain, states are addressing these challenges. This November 2004 report by Shanna Shulman, Megan Kell, and Margo Rosenbach can be downloaded in PDF format: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/schipdental.pdf