Children’s Health Insurance Program About to Get Long-Term Extension

Bloomberg Politics

By: Ivan Levingston

The Children’s Health Insurance Program is poised to end its time in limbo after the Senate voted to end a three-day government shutdown. The Senate is set to vote on a spending bill that includes a six-year extension of the program, after reaching deal to end a standoff that led to the first government shutdown since 2013. The House of Representatives, which already passed a spending bill that included a CHIP extension, is expected to approve the Senate measure.

The program was shored up with a short-term patch of about $3 billion, leaving families that rely on it uncertain about its long-term fate. While short-term funding was intended to last through the end of March, researchers at Georgetown University expected that for 11 states the additional funding would last only through February, and that they would have to dip into reserves.

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