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NewsFlash: September 12, 2007

SCHIP is not being used to substitute for private health insurance

The Bush administration’s rationale for blocking the expansion of public health insurance to families is that it encourages employers to drop families from private employer-based health insurance.  But today’s Snapshot, by senior EPI economist Jared Bernstein, illustrates that families are not abandoning private insurance when they enroll in the publicly-funded State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  The vast majority of SCHIP enrollees (86%) were either not covered or lost coverage by private plans six months before enrollment in the public program.

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