A study published in Health Affairs confirms the vital role that CHIP has played in decreasing the rate of uninsured children as well as the importance of extending federal funding for CHIP.

In The Impact Of Recent CHIP Eligibility Expansions On Children’s Insurance Coverage, 2008–12, authors examined fifteen states that expanded their CHIP income eligibility thresholds between 2009 and 2012. In these states, new populations of children became qualified for CHIP coverage.

The authors found that in states that expanded eligibility to children, a significant percent of kids gained health insurance coverage. Public health coverage increased in these states, while private health coverage decreased  although at a relatively low rate.

As the authors summarize:

Our analysis found that the recent CHIP expansions, focused primarily on higher-income families, resulted in a 1.1-percentage-point reduction in uninsurance in newly eligible children, which cut the uninsurance rate by close to 15 percent in this population. After the expansions took place, 6.3 percent of newly eligible children remained uninsured. At the same time, public coverage increased by 2.9 percentage points, with all but one state experiencing gains and four states having gains of nearly 5 percentage points or more. 

Check out the full article for author’s analysis of their study’s results and conclusion that stresses the importance of CHIP for children and families.