Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

Posted:	April 30, 2015 01:07 PM
From:	Senator Matt Smith and Sen. Donald C. White
To:	All Senate members
Subject:	Co-sponsorship of Legislation – Reauthorization of the CHIP Program

In the near future, we will introduce legislation amending the Insurance Company Law to reauthorize the Pennsylvania Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The CHIP program was first established in 1992. The program was designed to provide insurance coverage to children whose families made too much for medical assistance but were unable to afford private insurance. CHIP has been a point of pride for Pennsylvania, and served as the model for the federal government’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Today, the program is supported by both federal and state dollars and extends insurance coverage to approximately 145,000 children across the Commonwealth. However, both the federal SCHIP program and Pennsylvania’s CHIP program were set to expire on December 31, 2015. As you may be aware, Congress recently reauthorized the State Children’s Health Insurance Program when it passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Last week, President Obama signed MACRA into law. Our legislation will amend the Insurance Company Law to extend the sunset date for the CHIP program to December 31, 2017. This date mirrors the sunset date for the federal SCHIP program contained in MACRA. Please join us in co-sponsoring this important legislation. If you have questions about the legislation, please contact us at 717-787-5839 or 717-787-8724.
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