State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

If Your Client is an Immigrant

Eligible children can receive free or low-cost health care services without affecting your client’s chances of becoming a U.S. citizen.

Your clients will need to provide official immigration status information for the child applying for SCHIP coverage, such as their child’s Social Security number. Parents who are not applying for benefits cannot be required to give their Social Security numbers to get health insurance for their children.

As a general rule, only “qualified aliens” may be eligible for SCHIP coverage. In addition, some immigrants cannot be eligible for coverage for five years from the date they enter the country as a qualified alien.

SCHIP rules prohibit states from denying eligibility to any child based on citizenship or nationality, to the extent that the child is a U.S. citizen, national or qualified alien. Thus, once the five-year bar expires, states must provide coverage to all otherwise eligible qualified aliens.

For more information about the current Federal rules for immigrant SCHIP eligibility, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/immigrants/default.asp.