Under current law, federal funds for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are only provided through fiscal year (FY) 2017. States have two years to spend their annual allotments, and unspent allotments are available for redistribution to other states experiencing CHIP funding shortfalls. In MACPAC’s January 2017 Recommendations for the Future of CHIP and Children’s Coverage, the Commission 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.
This issue brief updates data on when states are expected to exhaust their federal CHIP funds under current law. The need for congressional action to renew CHIP funding is urgent because all states are expected to exhaust their federal CHIP funds during FY 2018, to ensure the stability of children’s coverage during a time in which health insurance markets are expected to face substantial changes, and to provide budgetary certainty for states.