National Center for Farmworker Health
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Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program

Author: Arendale, Elizabeth
Date Published: 2001


Farmworkers are a mobile, high risk, working poor population thought to have the worst overall health status in the nation. The annual income of most farmworker families fall below 100% of the federal poverty level. For this reason, enrollment screening for the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) defaults most farmworkers to the Medicaid program. Eligible farmworkers underutilized the Medicaid and SCHIP as well as other social programs. Whether through purchase of commercial indemnity insurance or a multi-state network model, public/private partnership concepts offer a promising framework for a viable approach to improving access to care and service delivery for Medicaid/SCHIP-eligible migrant farmworkers and their families. While the design challenge may be complex, the outcome could well be a workable model that is least disruptive to established state Medicaid program structures and that meets the health service needs of migrant farmworkers.

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Number of Pages: 5