If Congress doesn’t act in the next two months to renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program, more than 75,000 children and pregnant women will be without insurance.
As The Denver Postreports, Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP – called the Child Health Plan Plus, or CHP+ in Colorado - provides coverage for children in families that bring in just enough income to be above the cutoff for Medicaid and federal funding for the program officially expired last month.
Colorado spends roughly $185 million per year on the program, with about 90 percent coming from federal funds given to the state. Without renewal from Congress, Colorado has enough money to run the program through the end of January.
Bills are pending in the U.S. House and Senate to renew CHIP, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed support for extending the program but the bills have differences that could translate into a slower renewal process, meaning Colorado’s program will likely expire before CHIP can be reinstated.
