Children’s Health Insurance Gets Six-Year Extension
January 22, 2018
By: Christina Samuels
Source: Children’s Health Insurance Gets Six-Year Extension
The nearly three-week continuing resolution passed by Congress Monday to end a brief government shutdown includes a six-year funding package for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. CHIP covers 9 million children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but who can’t afford insurance on the open market.
Normally that would be seen as good news. But advocates are still questioning why Congress took so long to fund a popular program, forcing some states to send notices to families that they were at risk of losing their coverage.
CHIP’s popularity may be one factor behind its predicament. The program, created in 1997, has always had support among Republicans and Democrats. CHIP has also cut the uninsured rate for children by more than half, from about 14 percent to 4.5 percent.
However, while Congress was debating the budget last year…