1. National: Uninsured Kids Forgoing Health Care Uninsured children are three times less likely to visit a doctor's office in the course of a year than are insured children, according to a new report commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Additionally, government insurance, whether Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program, provides resources to keep kids with asthma, diabetes, and other chronic conditions out of hospitals, according to "A Needed Lifeline: Chronically Ill Children and Public Health Insurance Coverage." The University of Minnesota report shows that of 10 million chronically ill children nationwide, 3.6 million who have public health insurance receive the same level of care as peers with private insurance. But 41% of those without insurance delay or forgo care compared with 10% of those with any kind of coverage. And 77% of insured children received a "well child" checkup in the past year, compared with 45% of children without insurance. To determine eligibility for low-cost or free coverage--about seven in 10 uninsured children are eligible--parents may phone toll free 1-877-543-7669. [Nurseweek, 09/27/08] 2. Indiana: Expands Child Health Insurance Program As many as 10,000 Indiana children became eligible Wednesday for the State Children's Health Insurance Program under a recently approved expansion, state officials said. The expansion of eligibility to children up to age 19 in households earning up to 2.5 times the federal poverty level was approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in May. The new eligibility level is a sliding scale that includes families of two earning up to $35,000 per year and families of four earning up to $53,000. Families with children newly eligible under the expansion will need to pay higher premiums, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said. Households earning 200 percent to 225 percent the poverty level will pay $42 per month for one child or $53 monthly for two or more children. Households earning 226 percent to 250 percent of the poverty level will pay premiums of $53 for one child or $70 for two or more children. FSSA estimated more than 5,000 children will gain coverage during the first year of the expansion. Congress created CHIP in 1997 as a way to encourage states to provide health insurance to uninsured children. In Indiana it is part of Hoosier Healthwise, the state's subsidized health insurance program for children and pregnant women. [Associated Press, 10/01/08] 3. California: Changes Might Cause Health Insurance Loss for Thousands of Children Efforts by California to expand health insurance to all children have "stalled," and "thousands of kids are in danger of losing insurance" as a result of recent changes to state programs, the Los Angeles Times reports. Earlier this year, state lawmakers decided to increase monthly premiums for Healthy Families, the state version of CHIP, by $2 to $3 per child and as a result the state estimates that the parents of 19,000 children will end their enrollment in the program by July 2009. State lawmakers also decided to require residents to renew their enrollment in Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program, every six months. According to the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), the requirement will reduce the number of children enrolled in Medi-Cal by 196,000 children over the next two years. According to the Times, the changes likely will "further destabilize California's already shaky health care system," and they come as "private health initiatives that pay for the care of children are running out of money, causing them to limit the number they cover." E. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, said that "thousands of California children are likely to lose health insurance coverage they now have" as a result of the changes (Jordan Rau, Los Angeles Times, 8/24/08).