CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)

Children from families that have incomes too high for Medicaid but cannot afford private health insurance are eligible to participate in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), enacted in 1997. Almost 8 million children receive coverage through the states that participate in CHIP. It is jointly funded by the federal government and the states that have CHIP, with the federal government typically providing about 65 percent of the funding. States have designed their CHIP programs in three ways: (1) Medicaid expansion (7 states, District of Columbia, and five territories), (2) CHIP (17 states), and (3) a combination of these (26 states).

CHIP was reauthorized and improved in 2009 by the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA). It included additional monies for outreach to children who ...