PROVIDENCE— Congress’s spending bill that extended federal services through Feb. 8 on Monday also funded the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, for six years, securing health care for about 27,000 Rhode Island children.
The stopgap bill, approved by Congress and President Donald Trump, ended a looming crisis for Rhode Island’s RIte Care program, which administers CHIP funding to provide low-cost health insurance to Rhode Island children. Many of the children covered by the program program have special needs and chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma, according to Ahsley O’Shea, communications director for the Executive Office of Health & Human Services.
CHIP funding provides health care for 9 million children in the United States.
RIte Care was expected to run out of funding by May of this year without the renewed budget. Congress missed the Sept. 30 deadline to extend the program, casting the health care of thousands of children, as well as the state’s 96 percent rate of people with health insurance.
“We are pleased that Congress voted on Monday to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years,” O’Shea said.
“The good news is that parents who rely on CHIP to keep their kids healthy can breathe easier today,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
“It is disappointing that the Republicans who control Congress waited for the program to nearly run dry before considering its renewal. I hope yesterday’s funding deal marks a return to a bipartisan way of getting things done for the American people,” Whitehouse said.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
