Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Extend Expiring Children’s Health Insurance Program

Rare Daily Staff

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) introduced legislation that would extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program for five years.

The program provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that cannot afford private coverage, but earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. CHIP covered 8.9 million children in fiscal year 2016, according to data from Medicaid.gov. It is set to expire September 30 if no action is taken.

Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Wyden, ranking member of the committee, proposed the Keeping Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure (KIDS) Act, S. 1827. The bill would also provide additional protections for low-income children and increases flexibility for states, according to the committee.

“Introducing this legislation is an important next step toward ensuring uninterrupted funding for CHIP, providing much-needed certainty for the vulnerable children and families who rely on this critical program for health coverage,” said Hatch.

Under the proposed legislation, CHIP would transition to what the committee called “its traditional federal-state funding partnership.” The federal matching rate for CHIP would be maintained at current statutory levels through fiscal 2019, change to 11.5 percent for fiscal 2020, and return to the traditional CHIP matching rate for fiscal 2021 and 2022.

September 20, 2017