CHIP Change is Good News for Pennsylvania Children

By Michael Race, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children

Pennsylvania is making some improvements to its Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to make sure all kids enrolled in CHIP receive health care coverage that meets the minimum standards of the federal Affordable Care Act.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced this week that, starting Dec. 1, all CHIP plans will cover certain preventive care services without cost sharing for children and their families. This means families will no longer face co-pays or deductibles for services such as oral hygiene education, plaque control programs or dietary instruction. The changes also will eliminate annual and lifetime limits on the cost of some specific services and equipment, including hearing aids, dental and orthodontic care, and eyeglasses and other vision services.

CHIP provides insurance coverage to more than 148,000 children in the commonwealth.

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children had urged the commonwealth to work with CHIP insurers to make sure all coverage meets federal standards and we are pleased to hear these enhanced benefits will be in place by year’s end. CHIP has proven to be a successful program in helping to keep kids healthy and these changes will build on an already quality program for insuring kids.

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