Even more people will lose their coverage because of new premiums and “affordability” tests in the State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. Families who earn more than 150% of the federal poverty level will be affected. A family of three whose income is more than about $24,100 must start paying premiums for their children’s Medicaid coverage. The premium could be as high as 5% of family income as income reaches 226% of poverty.
Families with incomes from 151% to 185% of the federal poverty level will pay premiums of 1% of family income.
Those with incomes from 186% to 225% of the federal poverty level will pay premiums up to 3% of family income.
Those with incomes from 226% to 300% of the federal poverty level will pay premiums up to 5% of the family income (a family of three earning $36,363 would have to pay $1,818 per year in premiums).
Families with incomes above 150% of poverty will be denied Medicaid coverage if they have access to “affordable insurance,” defined as $335 per month in premiums.
“Under this provision, a family of three earning just over $2,012 per month will be ineligible for Medicaid if they could purchase private insurance for $335 – nearly 17% of their income – even though federal SCHIP law recognizes that poor families cannot afford to pay more than 5% of family income for health insurance and still have money available to cover food, rent, and other necessities,” says Joel Ferber, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.
