Introduction to State Health Policy:
A Seminar for New State Legislators

Session 8:
Hot Issues in Health Care: Focus on Medicaid and SCHIP

Presenters:	Martha King Director Health Program National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Denver, CO Rachel Morgan, R.N., B.S.N. Senior Policy Specialist State Federal Relations National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Washington, DC
Content:	State governments play many key roles in providing access to health care for populations that lack adequate private health coverage. Perhaps the most central of these roles is the oversight of Medicaid, a Federal/State financed health care program for low-income populations (including women and children, the elderly, and people with disabilities). Issues regarding Medicaid are of critical importance to State legislatures, especially because Medicaid accounts for 20 percent of the average State’s budget and is the fastest growing line item in most States. This session provides an overview of Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Program (SCHIP), a program to provide health care services to underserved children, and discusses State roles in administering these programs.
Session Archive:	Click to View Archive (REAL Player)
Session Transcript:	Text Transcript
Presentation Slides:	PowerPoint fomat (3.6 mb) text format

Recommended reading:

• National Conference of State Legislatures. “Frequently Asked Questions…SCHIP.”
• King M, Gordon D. “Medicaid: 10 Fixes that Work.” State Legislatures, March 2004;14-18.
• Smith V, Ramesh R, Gifford K, Ellis E, Rudowitz R, O’Malley M. The Continuing Medicaid Budget Challenge: State Medicaid Spending Growth and Cost Containment in Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005. Washington: The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, October 2004