ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
children’s health insurance;
hardship exceptions
Purpose
Requires the Director of the
Department of Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) to adopt
rules to grant a hardship exemption to families who are not able to pay the
premiums for the children’s health insurance program (CHIP).
Background
In 1998 the Legislature
established CHIP to provide health care coverage to children under age 19 from
families with income up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (currently
$34,100 for a family of four). As of January 1, 2001, 94,573 children have been
approved for health care coverage due to the outreach activities of the AHCCCS
administration and other organizations; 42,875 have been enrolled in CHIP and
51,698 have been approved for Medicaid.
Pursuant to A.R.S. §36-2982,
the administration is required to adopt rules for disenrolling a child for
nonpayment of premiums. Under AHCCCS
rules, a child’s coverage is terminated for failure to pay premiums in two
consecutive months. A child who is
terminated for nonpayment of premiums may be re-eligible when full payment is
made. For households at or below 150
percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), there are no premiums. For households with income over 150 percent
FPL but less than 175 percent FPL, the monthly premium payment is $10 for one
child and $15 for two or more. For a
household with income over 175 percent FPL up to 200 percent FPL, the monthly
premium is $15 for one child and $20 for two or more.
Between December 1999 and
January 2001, a total of 4,856 children were terminated for the nonpayment of
premiums for two months. The bad debt
amount associated with these members is approximately $80,000; the state’s
share of which is 25 percent or $20,000.
S.B. 1075 attempts to provide continued health care coverage to hardship
cases by requiring the AHCCCS Director to prescribe circumstances to grant a
hardship exemption to the disenrollment requirements for families who cannot
pay the premiums.
Provisions
1. Requires the AHCCCS Director to prescribe the circumstances to grant a hardship exemption to the disenrollment requirements for a member who is not able to pay the premiums under CHIP.
2. Makes technical changes.
3. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 19, 2001