R40075
What Happens to SCHIP After March 31, 2009?
December 19, 2008

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Summary:

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA97, P.L. 105-33) created the State Children?s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and appropriated nearly $40 billion over the 10-year period FY1998 to FY2007. The Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (MMSEA, P.L. 110-173) appropriated more than $10 billion to ensure no state?s SCHIP program runs out of federal SCHIP funds before March 31, 2009. Without legislative action, three sources of federal SCHIP funds will no longer be available after March 2009: (1) states? FY2008 federal SCHIP allotments; (2) states? FY2009 federal SCHIP allotments; and (3) up to $275 million for eliminating FY2009 shortfalls through March 31, 2009. Only the handful of states with unspent FY2007 federal SCHIP balances could continue to draw federal SCHIP funds. Thus, under current law, 43 states are projected to have no federal SCHIP funds on April 1, 2009. If the availability of the FY2008 and FY2009 allotments was extended through the end of FY2009, shortfalls of federal SCHIP funds would still total approximately $1.9 billion in 27 states, though this could be mitigated in some states by the ability to access Medicaid funding, albeit at a reduced matching rate compared to SCHIP.