The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has established itself as a critical piece of the federal/state response to children’s health care needs. In addition to covering over 6 million children directly, CHIP has spurred outreach and enrollment simplification efforts that have resulted in more eligible children receiving Medicaid. Though children enrolled in separate CHIP programs do not have a coverage guarantee such as children in Medicaid, the coverage provided to children under CHIP is more comprehensive and responsive to their needs than benefits provided through federal and state marketplaces.
In this Future of Children’s Health Coverage series brief, Joan Alker and Anne Dwyer make recommendations on how to modernize CHIP.
