Comprehensive Outreach 1 Comprehensive Outreach: A New Model to Improve Children’s Access to Health Care

Although the 1990s did not close with the nation’s health insurance problems resolved, as some had predicted when the decade began, Congress and then-President Clinton did attempt to solve the problem for millions of children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which became law in August 1997.1 Sta es will be spending more than $20 billion in the span of 5 years to enroll uninsured children into a traditional Medicaid program, a separate state-sponsored insurance program, or a combination of both approaches. As of September 30, 2000, over 3.3 million children have been enrolled in SCHIP (1). Because SCHIP is such a significant investment of public funds and addresses such an important public policy concern, numerous agencies and organizations are closely monitoring and analyzing states ’ implementation of the program and federal rulemaking concerning the program