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State Children’s Health Insurance Program

Phase 1 Effective Date: April 1, 1998

Revised: 1/26/98, 2/19/98, 3/3/98, 3/6/98 Phase 2 Effective Date: July 1, 1998

Revised: 8/20/98, 8/24/98, 10/1/99, 7/28/00, 1/31/01, 7/02/02, 7/22/02, 1/3/03, 2/13/04, 9/27/04, 11/15/04, 8/11/05, 10/1/06, 7/1/09, 7/1/10, 7/1/11, 7/1/12 99 amount of the monthly premium and the day the premium is due for each month. Families that do not make a premium payment are sent a letter on the 7th of the month informing them that coverage will be cancelled if payment is not received. These letters are followed be a series of automated reminder calls and email reminders. If payment is not received by the 20th of the month a termination letter is issued effective the last day of the month. Families that make payment within the 30-days are issued a reinstatement letter informing them that coverage is still in effect. Premiums are considered late if not received by the first of the month prior to coverage. A 30 day grace period is given to families to make a payment prior to cancellation of coverage. The late notice is generated by the TPA and also reminds the family that if the premium is not received during the grace period, the child’s coverage will be canceled for the next month and a minimum of a 30 day wait before reinstatement would be imposed as required by state law. On October 7, 2004, the Governor announced temporary changes to the KidCare program to assist families affected by the four hurricanes that impacted the state. The Governor announced that no children would be cancelled due to failure to pay premiums in the aftermath of the storms. The KidCare program adopted a temporary measure to reduce premium payments to $0 for the months of August (for September coverage), September (for October coverage) and October 2004 (for November coverage), for all children enrolled in Title XXI. Any payments received during this period are credited to future months. Once a month, the TPA sends electronic enrollment files to the Healthy Kids health and dental plans for Healthy Kids enrollees and electronic enrollment files for MediKids to the Agency for Health Care Administration and for the CMSN to the Department of Health. The files include all eligible children who have also made a premium payment by that date. Families who have not paid by this date will receive a second letter indicating that the child’s coverage will be canceled at the end of the month and that a minimum 30 day wait will be imposed before coverage can be reinstated if canceled. A supplemental file is prepared and distributed the first week of the coverage month that will include the children for whom payment had not been received prior to the previous file but was received within the 30 day grace period. Additionally, families also have the option of making their monthly family premium payment by credit card. Automated telephone payments were implemented on October 20, 2003, and web payments were implemented