CHIP
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Medicaid/CHIP Participation Rate Was 88.3 percent Among Children in 2013
By Genevieve M. Kenney and Nathaniel Anderson, Urban Institute We keep a close eye on fluctuations in the participation rate in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) because it is so critical to efforts to bring down the uninsured rate for children. Our latest data found that children’s participation in Medicaid/CHIP was 88.3…
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More Eligible but Unenrolled Kids are Being Connected to Medicaid & CHIP Coverage
CMS just released 2013 participation rates for children in Medicaid and CHIP, as calculated by experts at the Urban Institute. We keep a close eye on this data as it provides important insights into how well states are reaching eligible but uninsured children (which are the majority of uninsured children). As Say Ahhh! readers well…
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The Bump in Federal CHIP Funding: A Chance to Invest Freed-Up State Funds in Kids
[Editor’s note: The joy of CHIP funding extension has CCFers breaking into song. We had a difficult time not headlining this post “All About that Bump,” to be sung “It’s all about that bump, ‘bout that bump, more funding” to this popular tune.] As the ink was drying on H.R. 2 (now Public Law 114-10),…
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Time to Raise a Glass: CHIP Funding Extension Headed to President’s Desk!
Late this evening, the Senate passed H.R.2, the compromise SGR-CHIP package passed by the House late last month, by an overwhelmingly strong vote (92-8). Most of the health policy world will be buzzing about the fact that this historic bipartisan achievement makes the SGR “doc fix” permanent, and that’s indeed a grand feat. But this…
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New GAO Reports Add to Evidence on CHIP’s Success
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), which provides reports to Congress that evaluate federal policies, released two reports in the last week confirming what we already know about CHIP: it’s a vital coverage source to millions of kids and kids and families would be worse off without it. The first study, Coverage of Services and Costs…
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Access to Care in CHIP & Medicaid Strong (CCF’s C-SPAN Debut!)
This week started out on a high, since I had the pleasure of heading over to C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to talk about my favorite topic of late: the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). (Shout out to my father, Larry Wright, who is arguably CSPAN’s #1 fan in Arkansas and could have only been more excited…
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House Passes 2 Year CHIP Extension Included in ‘SGR’ Compromise Deal
Editor’s Note UPDATE: Yesterday, the House passed this SGR-CHIP package, H.R.2, by a tremendous bipartisan vote (392-37-4). Despite attempts by Senate leadership to get a vote to the floor before their recess, it looks like they will be taking the package up when they return April 13th. Stay tuned… We’ve all been watching developments on…
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What’s at stake without a quick, clean renewal of CHIP funding? Our historic success covering kids.
A timely analysis from our friends at the Urban Institute this week quantifies the high stakes of the current deal making around CHIP. The outcome, along with the looming Supreme Court decision, will determine whether we move backwards on our success covering children or maintain the strong system of coverage that has successfully served low-income…
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Good News for Kids: Bipartisan Support for CHIP Emerging in Congress
Since CHIP’s inception it has been described as a bipartisan program with support from both Republicans and Democrats at both the state and federal levels. In a time of intense partisanship in health policy, whether this would hold true as Congress considered the extension of CHIP funding this year was an open question. As readers…
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States Can’t Always Be Relied On To Do The Right Thing For Kids
By Joan Alker and Sean Miskell, As Congress continues to mull over the future of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, we at CCF continue to mull over the policy implications for children of various proposals put forth. As regular readers of Say Ahhh! know, a recently released discussion draft by Senator Hatch, and Reps Upton…
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Federal “Maintenance of Effort” Protections Help Kids Maintain Health Coverage Amid Tough State Budget Climates
The Children’s Heath Insurance Program (CHIP) serves more than 8.3 million children in the United States.1 CHIP is jointly administered and financed by states and the federal government, but at the end of federal fiscal year 2015 (September 30), no new federal funding for CHIP will be available. Lawmakers from both parties have introduced plans…
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MACPAC to Congress: Extend CHIP Funding and Maintain Current Program Structure
On Tuesday, MACPAC released a comment letter to the Chairman and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on Finance and House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. In the letter, commissioners urge Congress to extend funding for CHIP quickly and cleanly for two more years and reiterate their support for the program. The MACPAC…
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‘State Flexibility’ Proposals in Hatch-Upton-Pitts CHIP Discussion Draft Puts Kids Coverage at Very Serious Risk
The discussion draft on how to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) recently released by Republican leaders includes a number of provisions that will put children at significant risk of losing their CHIP coverage and becoming uninsured if these proposals were to become law. I blogged about the discussion draft in some detail last…
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King v Burwell Could Undermine Coverage For Children: One More Reason Why We Need CHIP Funding Renewed Quickly
Most of the conversation about the King v Burwell case has focused on which states would be affected, what would happen to insurance markets, or how many people would become uninsured as a result. But there’s one thing almost no one is talking about: how the decision might affect children’s coverage and why it’s another…
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Republicans Introduce Discussion Draft of Plan to Extend (S)CHIP Funding – And There is Much to Discuss…
Today the Republican Senate and House health leadership — House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts (R-PA), full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — released a discussion draft of a bill to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (more on the name…
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Making Kids Wait for Coverage Makes No Sense in a Reformed Health System
Waiting periods make no sense when the goal is to create near universal access to continuous coverage and families are penalized for not having insurance. Given the administrative complexity of transitioning children between coverage options, it is virtually impossible to ensure that they will not face a gap in coverage. To this end, 20 of…
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States Increase Pressure on Congress to Renew CHIP Funding
By Sophia Duong States are applying more pressure on Congress to take swift action to extend CHIP funding. The National Governor’s Association (NGA) is set to hold their Winter meeting this weekend, February 20-23. But before the meeting even begins, the NGA took action on CHIP by sending a strong letter to the leaders of…
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New Children’s Health Insurance Program Bills Introduced
Senate and House Democrats celebrated Valentine’s Day by introducing bills to extend CHIP funding through 2019. Senate Democrats, led by Senator Sherrod Brown, have co-sponsored S.522, “Protecting & Retaining Our Children’s Health Insurance Program Act of 2015 (PRO-CHIP)”. On the House Side, Representative Gene Green introduced companion bill H.R.919. The Senate bill would extend the…
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Getting MAGI Right: Current Monthly Income vs. Projected Annual Income
Last week, we released a primer on the basics of MAGI – how rules for counting household size and income to determine eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP have been aligned with Marketplace subsidies. The move to MAGI has brought about a number of changes but to further complicate things, there are some differences that apply…
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How Do Updated 2015 Federal Poverty Level Thresholds Impact Medicaid, CHIP & Premium Tax Credit Eligibility?
Over the weekend, Healthcare.gov uploaded the new 2015 federal poverty levels (FPL) to use in assessing eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP. What does this mean to consumers applying for coverage? Let’s start with eligibility for Marketplace subsidies. For 2015 calendar year coverage, regardless of when someone applies or enrolls, eligibility is based on the 2014…