HHS Approves Plan To Raise Income Eligibility Levels for Healthy Families, AIM
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on Thursday approved California's proposal to expand children's access to health care through Healthy Families by increasing the income level for eligibility in four counties. Under the plan, children up to 19 years old who live in Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo or Santa Clara counties and whose annual family incomes are up to 300% of the federal poverty level -- $56,550 for a family of four -- will be eligible for the county children's health insurance program, or C-CHIP. Previously, the program capped income level eligibility at 250% of the federal poverty level, or $47,125 for a family of four. The state aims to enroll about 33,000 children in the C-CHIP program through the change in eligibility rules.
The approval also includes plans to raise the state income eligibility level for the Access for Infants and Mothers program to 300% of the federal poverty level. The move is intended to expand health care access to nearly 5,000 children under age two whose mothers are enrolled in AIM (HHS release, 6/10).
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