Associated Press

By: Barbara Rodriguez

Iowa is preparing to notify families in early February that federal money could run out soon for a health insurance program that covers roughly 60,000 low-income children in the state, though officials are also hopeful congressional action early in the new year will make such contingency plans unnecessary. The Iowa Department of Human Services has drafted letters that could be mailed out to families about dwindling money for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known nationally as CHIP and as hawk-i in the state. The program is aimed at children from families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid.

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Joan Alker is the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. She said other insurance options for low-income children in Iowa and elsewhere will not match the comprehensiveness or affordability of CHIP. Alker also said the short-term funding by Congress does not give the program enough sustainability.

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