The Takeaway
At the end of September, Congress allowed the deadline for refunding CHIP to expire. Replenishing funds for the program should be a slam dunk in Congress — there is usually bipartisan support for this program that helps kids — but CHIP still doesn’t have a funding plan, and the program is running on fumes.
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Joan Alker is executive director of the Center for Children and Families (CCF) and a research professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. She says CHIP functions as a lifeline for many American families. “These children are in families who earn a little bit too much to qualify for the Medicaid program, which is actually the primary source of public coverage for children, but they don’t earn enough to be able to afford private insurance,” says Alker. “These are really working families who just simply don’t have other options if CHIP isn’t available.”
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