Texan enrollment in the Children's Health Insurance Program saw the worst decline in the nation last year, according to a report released Friday. While most states increased their enrollment, drops in Texas, New York and Maryland sent national numbers into an overall downward trend.
The report, prepared for a Friday meeting held by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured in Washington, D.C., was released among other reports concerning enrollment figures for CHIP nationwide.
The report said this enrollment decrease was the first since CHIP was established in 1997.
While New York and Maryland saw dramatic decreases, Texas' decline - three times larger than that of the two other states - was responsible for half of the national downturn.
"Like many other states, Texas began its 2003 legislative session facing a budget shortfall of unprecedented magnitude," wrote Anne Dunkelberg and Molly O'Malley, who prepared the report.
Dunkelberg and O'Malley cited the shortfall as a chief reason for the CHIP enrollment decline.
"However, unlike other states, Texas entered this fiscal crisis already near the bottom nationally in both revenue and spending," the report said.
Dunkelberg and O'Malley said policy changes to CHIP by the Texas Legislature have resulted in more than 149,000 children losing coverage, with more expected in the coming months.
But some disagree with the numbers.
Robert Black, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry, said the assertion by the report that 149,000 children are no longer covered is "factually wrong."
Black said that much of the decline in enrollment had nothing to do with the Legislature. Forty percent of those who were not enrolled failed to complete their paperwork in time, and another 25 percent left CHIP for Medicaid, he said.
He said the Center for Public Policy Priorities ignored what the Legislature does to improve access to health care. The governor signed legislation that let small businesses pool their resources to get more benefits from health care, he said.
"There are more children than ever before covered by CHIP," Black said, adding that while the Legislature did tighten restrictions for the program, they did not impose budget cuts.
Dunkelberg disputed Black's comments, saying that policy restrictions and budget cuts have the same end result.
"They may be playing word games," she said. "You can call it a cut or a change, but it was a change that was designed to reduce enrollment."
