MassHealth and the Importance of Continued Federal Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program

Unless Congress acts, federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will run out soon after September 2015. On March 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would fund CHIP for two more years. The Senate is expected to take up the bill in mid-April. This report, written by Robert Seifert, senior director, Health Law & Policy at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, for the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation examines the serious implications for Massachusetts if federal funding for CHIP is not extended.