The national Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, will live to see another day, meaning 800 pregnant women and over 75,000 kids in Colorado will keep health coverage.
As The Denver Post reports, CHIP, or as it’s referred to in Colorado, Child Health Plan Plus, provides health coverage to kids and pregnant women from families that make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to reasonably afford private coverage.
On Monday, in voting to approve a measure to end the federal government shutdown, Congress approved a six-year extension of funding for the program. Since October, when CHIP funding lapsed, Colorado had been keeping the program going with residual funds and some state money.
Had funding not been renewed by Congress, Colorado could have ended its program as early as March.
Colorado spends about $185 million per year on the Child Health Plan Plus, with 90 percent of that coming from federal dollars.