Senate Finance leaders introduce bill to extend CHIP funding for five years

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) yesterday introduced legislation to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program through fiscal year 2022. Under the KIDS Act (S. 1827), the program’s federal matching rate would remain at current statutory levels through FY 2019, change to 11.5% for FY 2020 and return to a traditional CHIP matching rate for FYs 2021 and 2022, the committee leaders said. They said the bill also would “create protections and flexibility” under CHIP’s maintenance-of-effort provision, which prohibits states from imposing more restrictive eligibility and enrollment standards. CHIP covers 8.9 million children with family incomes above Medicaid eligibility limits who lack access to affordable private coverage. While the program is authorized through Oct. 1, 2019, legislative action is needed to continue funding beyond this month. For more on CHIP, see the AHA’s infographic.