The State Children's Health lnsurance Program (S-CHIP) is a state-federal partnership program created in 1997. The program is critical to each Southern governor's ongoing effort to provide quality health care to children of working families by providing the resources and flexibility for them to develop health care strategies that best meet their state's unique needs.

Although Southern states have made dramatic progress in reducing the number of uninsured low-income children over the past decade, flaws in the program's formula and inaccurate census data have contributed to a systematic decline in federal S-CHIP funding for these states.

SGA is working with Congress to improve the S-CHIP funding formula and direct resources towards better data collection so that Southern states receive a fair share of federal funds. SGA also is urging Congress to make children a program priority, provide parity for stand-alone programs, streamline premium assistance rules and reject additional mandates on state S-CHIP programs.