CHILDREN’S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM (CHIP)
What is CHIP?
CHIP is the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Established in 1997 by Congress, the program provides health insurance for children from low- and middle-income families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but have limited access to private insurance.
Why Does It Matter?
CHIP provides healthcare to approximately eight million children across the country today.
As a result of CHIP, the uninsured rate for children dropped from 14% in 1997 to 5% in 2017, a period of 20 years.
As of October 2024, 37 million children in the U.S. were covered by Medicaid or CHIP. This includes children with disabilities or chronic health conditions and those living in working families with low incomes.
For more information on CHIP, including eligibility requirements, visit Healthcare.gov
CHIP and New York State
In 2016, CHIP covered over nearly 700,000 children in New York State, where it is known as Child Health Plus.
Approximately 70 percent of funding comes from the federal government.
More than 97% of New York children have health coverage – the highest level in history. New York achieved this success thanks to CHIP, Medicaid, and the ACA.
New York is the only state to see a significant decline in the number of uninsured children from 2016 until 2019, when the COVID pandemic hit.
Between 2020 and 2023, a federal rule required the state to maintain continuous coverage for residents with public insurance during the pandemic. The percentage of uninsured children in New York fell to an all-time low of 1.2 percent.
CHIP requires reauthorization by Congress and in 2018 secured funding through 2027.
