Hatch, Wyden Push to Extend CHIP Funding, Provide Additional Protections

Senate Finance Committee Chairman and Ranking Member Propose Five-Year Funding Extension

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today announced an agreement to ensure stability for vulnerable children by extending the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for five years. The lawmakers’ proposal would also over time, transition CHIP to its traditional federal-state partnership and provide additional protections for low-income children and flexibility for states.

“CHIP is an effective, bipartisan program that helps to provide health coverage for vulnerable children and families,” said Hatch. “Congress needs to act quickly to extend the funding for CHIP. This agreement with Ranking Member Wyden is a good first start. Not only does this proposal provide uninterrupted funding for CHIP, but it also provides certainty and increased flexibility for states to administer the program. We will continue to work to advance this agreement in a way that does not add to the deficit, and I am hopeful we can move forward swiftly to ensure no lapse in care for our nation’s most vulnerable children.”

“Today’s strong, bipartisan agreement on the Children’s Health Insurance Program is a great deal for America’s kids,” Wyden said. “I thank Chairman Hatch for his continued leadership, and I look forward to working with him and members of the Finance Committee to pass a five-year CHIP funding extension into law as soon as possible.”

Full legislative language will be released in the coming days. The current reauthorization for funding will expire on Sept. 30, 2017.

The Senate Finance Committee, the committee with the largest jurisdiction in either House of Congress, oversees more than 50 percent of the federal budget and has jurisdiction over large portions of the American healthcare system, including Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP. 

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