On Wednesday, December 3rd, the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on CHIP. In tandem with the hearing, the leaders of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Finance Committee released the responses from 39 governors to their joint request on information about the CHIP programs in their states.

You will see that in the summary of letters, governors overwhelmingly support the extension of CHIP funding. The letter requested states indicate whether and under what time frame CHIP funding should be reauthorized. More than half of governors (22) called for an extension of CHIP funding at least through the end of 2019. Specifically:

  • 15 governors called for funding through 2019 or the end of the maintenance-of-effort period
  • Seven governors called for funding beyond 2019
  • Another two governors requested funding for a minimum of two years but preferred funding for even longer
  • Governors from three states suggested extending CHIP funding for two years, through fiscal year 2017
  • The remaining 11 governors did not provided a suggested length for the funding extension
  • Governors generally agree that action should be taken in time for states’ budgetary cycles

As the press release from Energy and Commerce says, “Taken together, the letters indicate support for the extension of CHIP and outline a number of suggestions for program improvements that could accompany any funding reauthorization legislation. A summary of the responses can be found here and the complete individual responses can be found here.”