About one dozen years ago the federal government responded to a need. Many working families could not afford to get health insurance. Many small business owners could not afford to offer their employees health insurance. As a result, many children did not receive adequate medical care. The government sought a way to provide low cost health insurance to those children.

The government discovered that not every state desired the same type of low cost health insurance. Some states wanted the insurance to cover only doctor visits, prescription medicines, hospital stays and medical tests. Other states wanted a low cost health insurance that would cover dental visits and prescription eyeglasses. The federal government decided to provide money to each state for the establishment of a program that could help families to secure health insurance at a reasonable cost.

Basic Facts about Low Cost Health Insurance

Low cost health insurance is intended to help working families. Every state in the United States has a program for infants, small children and teenagers. Immigration status does not determine a family’s eligibility for low cost health insurance.

In most states, eligibility for low cost health insurance extends to any family with an income of no more than $34,100 per year. That figure represents an income that is 185% of the poverty guidelines. Many states allow families with a slightly higher income (185%-235% of the poverty guidelines) to obtain a special type of low cost health insurance. Those families make a small co-payment at the time of a doctor’s visit.

How Can One Find a Low Cost Health Insurance?

The Start Health, Stay Healthy Campaign wants to provide low cost health insurance to all of the families that do not yet have such insurance. That campaign seeks to encourage coordination between the states and the federal government. The participants in that campaign have launched an outreach effort directed at health care providers, human service agencies and non-profit organizations. The campaign has asked such groups to help campaign participants with their search for children in need of low cost health insurance.

A family in need of low cost health insurance should contact a state agency, a health care agency, a human service agency or a non-profit focused on health care. Any of those groups should have information about the availability of low cost health insurance.

Families must realize that all programs for low cost health insurance operate under specific state provisions. Some states even have clever names for their low cost health insurance. For example, in California the program is called “Healthy Families,” while in New Hampshire a similar program has been called “Healthy Kids.” In Pennsylvania, the name for the program is “Chip,” which stands for Children’s Health Insurance Program. In Texas the program that directs distribution of low cost health insurance is called TexCare; in New Mexico, a similar program was given the name New Mexikids.

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