Kaiser Health News

By: Phil Galewitz

A popular federal-state program that provides health coverage to millions of children in lower- and middle-class families is up for renewal Sept. 30.

But with a deeply divided Congress, some health advocates fear that the Children’s Health Insurance Program could be in jeopardy or that conservative lawmakers will seek changes to limit the program’s reach. Other financial priorities this month include extending the nation’s debt ceiling, finding money for the Hurricane Harvey cleanup and keeping the government open.

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But that provision has kept CHIP stable at a time when the individual insurance market faces uncertainty, says Joan Alker, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families in Washington, D.C.

Alker says the enhanced funding included in CHIP’s 2009 reauthorization has helped several states, including Nevada and Utah. The states were able to expand coverage to legal immigrant children immediately; before that extra money came in, these kids faced a five-year wait for insurance.

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