State's 2012 HUSKY Performance Bonus Falls Short Of Prior Year's

Connecticut is one of 23 states awarded performance bonuses for streamlining enrollment and renewal procedures in their Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance (S-CHIP) programs in FFY 12.  The state received nearly $2 million for increasing enrollment during that period, down sharply from the approximately $5 million it received in FFY 11.

The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) created performance bonuses to encourage states to enroll more children in Medicaid and S-CHIP (HUSKY B in Connecticut) and reduce the number of eligible children who drop out.  In order to qualify, state programs must have at least five of the following features:

1. use of the same application and renewal forms for Medicaid and S-CHIP;
2. few or no asset verification requirements;
3. procedures allowing applicants to enroll without in-person interviews;
4. presumptive eligibility rules, allowing health care providers to conditionally enroll and treat children while official eligibility determinations are pending;
5. "express lane" eligibility rules, allowing applicants to enroll if they are participating in other public assistance programs with similar eligibility rules;
6. subsidized premiums for S-CHIP enrollees whose incomes or assets are slightly above Medicaid program limits;
7. 12 month, continuous eligibility rules, allowing children to remain enrolled for a full year regardless of changes in circumstances that would otherwise make them ineligible earlier; and
8. streamlined, automatic or administrative renewal procedures.

Connecticut's programs include items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 above.