Approximately 25 percent of the S.C. General Assembly has volunteered to be a part of an effort to put information in the hands of parents whose children are eligible for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Republicans and Democrats from the Senate and House will be delivering SCHIP flyers to the 185 school districts in the state. The school districts will then dispense the flyers to the school nurses in their district.

"Two years ago the Legislature approved funding to expand SCHIP to children in families between 150 percent and 200 percent of the poverty level," said Sue Berkowitz, director of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center that co- sponsored this effort. "Unfortunately, only about 12,000 of the 70,000 eligible children are now signed up. Through the distribution of flyers in the schools, we hope more hard working S.C. families will be able to provide healthcare for their children through SCHIP in these difficult economic times."

The S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce supported the expansion of SCHIP and partnered in developing this unique, bipartisan effort to enroll more qualified children in the program.

"Today the Legislature is helping to implement the program they funded two years ago," said Frank Knapp Jr., president of the Small Business Chamber. "We have not had one legislator we have asked to particpate turn us down."

Facts about SCHIP

SCHP is a federal and state funded healthcare program. Currently, there are over 130,000 children who have no health insurance in our state. In January '09, 340 people per day lost their health insurance in S.C., so the uninsured children numbers are also growing.

Who qualifies: Families 150%- 200% below federal poverty levels, who have less than $30k in savings and do not qualify for Medicaid. Ages—Children up to the age of 19, who have not had health insurance for three months or more. There is a sliding scale for families based on income and size: A family of two can earn - $28,000; three - $35,200; four - $42,400; five - $49,600; six - $56,800; seven - $64,000; eight - $71,200.

Children in Healthy Connections Kids (SCHIP) have these benefits: Their own doctor; doctor visits; health checkups; hospital visits; dental care; prescription drug coverage; immunizations; vision care and eye glasses; lab work and x-rays; Chiropractic services; and Behavioral health services.