This 2011 report chapter presents an overview of CHIP. CHIP is a much smaller program than Medicaid both in terms of covered individuals and total costs. Like Medicaid, states administer their CHIP programs within federal rules and receive federal matching funds for program expenditures. However, CHIP differs from Medicaid in a variety of ways, most notably in its focus on children.
Under CHIP, federal funding is at a higher matching rate and is capped, and there is no mandatory level of coverage. States have flexibility to use a Medicaid expansion approach to administer CHIP, create a separate CHIP program, or use a combination of the two. In separate CHIP programs, states have additional flexibility to cap enrollment, implement waiting periods, tailor benefit packages, and charge premiums, deductibles, coinsurance and other cost-sharing.
In 1997, just before CHIP’s implementation, 10 million children lacked health insurance. In 2010, 6 million children were uninsured, with the largest decrease among low-income, mostly working, families. This contrasts to the increase in uninsurance among adults during the same period. Read more about CHIP eligibility, benefits and cost-sharing, state program flexibility, and the federal-state financing structure
From: March 2011 Report to the Congress on Medicaid and CHIP