Source: American Academy of Family Physicians Washington, DC, Office
On November 29, the National Governors Association sent a letter to Congressional leadership urging immediate action on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP funding expired on September 30 and without action from Congress on CHIP funding, states will be forced to make drastic cuts to the program.
On December 7, the Partnership for Medicaid (the American Academy of Family Physicians is a member) released a statement calling on Congress to include a five-year CHIP extension in any early December spending bill. So far, 16 states and Washington, DC, have received contingency CHIP funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CHIP programs in Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, and Montana are among those slated to run out of money by the end of January 2018.
The AAFP is reaching out to governors across the country to stand up for children and demand that Congress extend CHIP. Send your message through Speak Out to Ohio Governor John Kasich requesting that he ask Ohio’s Congressional Delegation to support CHIP funding.
Ohio operates a Medicaid expansion Children’s Health Insurance Program called Healthy Start.
- 1,564,269 children are covered by Medicaid and CHIP in Ohio:
- 223,538 children received CHIP-funded coverage
- 1,340,686 received Medicaid-funded coverage.
- CHIP in Ohio covers children ages 0-18 from 107% – 206% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
- Cost sharing is not associated with CHIP in Ohio.
- Ohio is expected to exhaust federal CHIP funds by March 2018 if Congress does not reauthorize the program.
Since 1997, CHIP, together with Medicaid, has helped to reduce the percentage of uninsured children by a remarkable 68%.
As employer-based dependent coverage has eroded, CHIP and Medicaid have efficiently worked together so that more than 95% of all children in America are currently enrolled in some form of insurance coverage.