APA Urges Five-Year Fix to CHIP

Congress authorized a temporary extension of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as part of a stopgap budget measure passed last December 21.

Funding for CHIP, which insures children from low-income families who do not qualify for Medicaid, lapsed September 30, 2017. The funding measure extends funding CHIP through the end of March. APA has called for Congress to reauthorize the program for five years.

“We are relieved that states will have temporary funding for children’s health insurance, but Congress must pass a long-term reauthorization of CHIP,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A. “Nearly nine million children receive health care thanks to this program, including approximately 850,000 with serious behavioral or emotional disorders. CHIP is vital to keeping our nation’s children healthy and strong. We urge Congress to act with all possible speed to pass a five-year reauthorization of CHIP.”

Since CHIP’s initial enactment, the rate of uninsured children under 18 years old fell to 4.5 percent in 2015 from 13.9 percent in 1997, according to a letter APA sent to Congress last September urging CHIP’s reauthorization. ■