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AAP News Vol. 14 No. 7 July 1998, p. 9 © 1998 American Academy of Pediatrics
North Carolina's AAP members worked both sides of the political aisle to diffuse a "bitterly partisan" standoff, rescuing a $108 million-a-year health care plan for children of the state's working poor. Because of the chapter's pivotal role in reaching a compromise, North Carolina can take its first steps toward procuring federal funding under Title XXI, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Over the next five years, the state will contribute an average of $29 million yearly and receive a federal "match" of an average $79 million yearly. Meanwhile, 10 other states Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin have won Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) approval of their SCHIP plans, bringing the total to 18 plans approved.
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