Group: CHIP enrollment up in Valley

After years of diminishing enrollment, the Children's Health Insurance Program finally is seeing gains in the number of Rio Grande Valley children signing up, the Children's Defense Fund confirmed Thursday.

About 10,000 children have enrolled in CHIP since last September, said Luisa Saenz, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund of the Rio Grande Valley.

The net enrollment gain is smaller than that, though: during that same time period, 6,000 other children dropped off the rolls, Saenz said.

"We're making headway very slowly," Saenz said.

The net increase in CHIP enrollment signals a turning of the tide for the Valley. After lawmakers made deep cuts to the program in 2003, CHIP enrollment in the Valley's four counties decreased by nearly half, according to figures from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. From a high of 46,000 in early 2003, the four counties' enrollment dropped to 25,000 in July 2007, HHSC figures show.

Last year, lawmakers made some changes in the program, including eliminating a 90-day waiting period, increasing the enrollment period to one year and easing income limits, such as requiring families to include their cars when totaling  their assets. Advocates said these changes would help more children to enroll and remain enrolled in program.

As of this month, Valley CHIP enrollment is up to about 29,600,  an 18 percent increase from last summer.

Statewide, the CHIP rolls also have increased by 18 percent since last July.

Outreach workers are working to enroll more Valley children in the program and inform families of the changes, Saenz said. The Children's Defense Fund is collaborating with 11 Hidalgo County school districts to send letters to eligible families, she sad. Workers also are about to start a similar, school-based effort in Cameron County.

"(Workers are) doing a lot of great outreach in the Valley, and that's helped," said Stephanie Goodman, spokeswoman for Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

As CHIP numbers in the region and statewide have increased, however, enrollment in children's Medicaid has decreased slightly - an occurrence that confounds advocates.

"I can't understand that," Saenz said. "The state says that maybe they're switching from Medicaid to CHIP, but I don't know."

Goodman says that HHSC isn't sure of the reasons for the decrease, either.

"Our researchers are peeling back the numbers. We don't know what's causing it, but we're looking back at it," she said.

Bureaucratic problems and an inadequate number of workers at the state level could be to blame for the statewide decreases in Medicaid enrollment, suggested Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities and a health-care policy analyst.

HHSC has "half the staff" of 10 years ago, and its computer system has many glitches, Dunkelberg said. Therefore, some regions of the state are experiencing delays in processing Medicaid applications, she said.

"We're still having problems with both pieces, with CHIP and children's Medicaid," Dunkelberg said. "Both pieces of the equation have to be working."

In a presentation to a legislative-oversight committee last month, HHSC acknowledged its computer systems "need changes," and that the programming is "antiquated." Also, the agency reported that it has about half the full-time positions of 10 years ago.

Eligibility workers do still have a strong presence in the Valley, despite staff shortages, Dunkelberg said.

The message does seem to be getting out in this region, according to Saenz. About 25 percent of the state's new enrollment is in the Valley, she said.

Another issue to tackle, though, are the children dropping off the rolls, she said.

Some families might not be applying for renewals, and other children might be "aging out" of the system, Goodman said.
Despite the disenrollments, the overall, upward trend in enrollment is expected to continue, Goodman said.