SCHIP program focuses attention on how we define ‘poverty’

The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 5/9/7

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, is a partnership between the federal government and the states to fund and provide health insurance for children in mostly working families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage.

States set their own income eligibility levels. Many states – including Mississippi – set the maximum SCHIP eligibility level at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which means children under age 19 in a family of four with an income of up to $40,000 a year may qualify.

The two children of a couple who make $40,000 a year may qualify for public health insurance coverage. In Mississippi, does that constitute a “poor” family?