The Politics of Children's Health Insurance Policy

Abstract

What is the relationship between state-level politics and the resources devoted to children's health insurance programs (CHIP)? The authors asses this question by drawing on theories from the power resources, institutionalist, logic of industrialism, and racial threat schools of thought. The authors find that each approach offers some explanatory power for per capita CHIP spending. In particular, Republican strength in state legislatures and governorships are associated with diminished CHIP spending. Professionalized state legislatures, strong state financial capacities, and states with a legacy of social policy innovation were linked to greater CHIP spending. States with more uninsured children tended to spend more per capita. And states with greater numbers of blacks spent less per capita. But there was no similar effect for Hispanics. The authors conclude that an array of forces at the state level figure prominently in cross-state inequality and the prospects for social citizenship.