CMS Approves Arizona’s Return to CHIP

The state of Arizona is rejoining the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) after shutting it down in 2009 in response to the recession. According to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) press release 30,000 to 40,000 children will be newly covered effective September 1, 2016. 

CHIP, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments, provides health care, dental care, and other benefits to children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but fall beneath income thresholds and do not have health insurance. 

“Today’s approval is a step forward for the health of Arizona children in low-income families,” Vikki Wachino, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, said in a press release. “With Arizona’s decision, all states in the nation now provide CHIP coverage to any eligible child who applies. More children in Arizona will have access to coverage early in their lives, which helps kids grow into healthy adults and provides parents with the peace of mind that comes from their children having affordable coverage.”

Since dropping CHIP, Arizona families without coverage have been able to get insurance on the health exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, researchers at Georgetown University found that Arizona families were likely paying more for less coverage than they would have gotten under CHIP, according a Washington Post report.

The decision enables the state to “do something really positive for families in our state and do it in a fiscally responsible way,” said Daniel Scarpinato, a spokesman from the Arizona governor’s office, in the report. Moreover, the move is “not impacting our bottom line. It doesn’t require a tax increase or impact other programs.”

The decision brings Arizona in line with all other states, as it was the last one that still did not cover children. Since 2010, the ACA has forbidden states from reducing health coverage for minors. —Dean Celia