This presentation reviews MACPAC analysis—released in March 2017—projecting when states are expected to exhaust federal funds for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Under current law, new federal CHIP funding is not available after fiscal year (FY) 2017, which ends September 30. Using state data, MACPAC estimates that all states would exhaust federal CHIP funding at some point in FY 2018, with four states and the District of Columbia running out of federal funds as early as December.
MACPAC previously found that as many as 1.1 million children could become uninsured if CHIP funding were allowed to expire. To ensure the stability of children’s coverage during a time when health insurance markets are expected to face substantial changes, and to provide budgetary certainty for states, MACPAC recommended extending federal CHIP funding for a five-year period as part of a broader set of recommendations for CHIP and the future of children’s coverage.