Washington Examiner

By: Robert King

States are facing new problems with the Children’s Health Insurance Program, even as Congress passed a six-year reauthorization for the Children’s Health Insurance Program this week, ending a months-long standoff.

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The change to the lower matching rate is to reduce a funding bump that the program received from the Affordable Care Act. But the phase-in of the cuts happens over several years, giving states time to adjust, said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, which has tracked changes to the program.

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Alker said states were worried that the program was being eliminated for good. “There was a lot of publicity about how CHIP might end, and some states even sent out notices to families saying their coverage might end,” she said. “What we are concerned about is there may have been a chilling effect on enrollment, but we just don’t know.”

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