Low-income working families, including those with CSHCN, relied on SCHIP as an essential source of health insurance coverage for their children. The vast majority of the program’s resources were spent on the poorest of eligible families. Given the income distribution of uninsured children, future children’s health insurance expansions are likely to continue serving the neediest families. After enrollment in SCHIP, more children had a regular source of care and used preventive care, fewer children had unmet health care needs, and families experienced higher satisfaction with care. Improvements in health care access and satisfaction were largely shared by vulnerable groups of enrollees. States achieved these results using a variety of program designs, including subsidizing insurance offered in.
