Approximately 8 million children with low to moderate incomes are covered under the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and 39 million children are covered under Medicaid.  Most children who have coverage have private coverage.  The number of uninsured children has decreased by half since the enactment of CHIP in 1997; however, with a new coverage landscape and CHIP funding set to expire in October 2015, questions arise about the current state and future of children’s health care coverage.

On July 14, 2014, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Alliance for Health Reform hosted a briefing to discuss CHIP, and why it was created, as well as experiences with children’s coverage through CHIP and Medicaid, and some of the key policy and financing questions around children’s health coverage looking forward.

The panel was co-moderated by Diane Rowland of the Kaiser Family Foundation and Ed Howard of the Alliance.  Speakers include:

• Robin Rudowitz, associate director for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured

• Joan Alker, executive director at the Center for Children and Families and research associate professor at Georgetown University

• Robert Stewart, analyst at the Congressional Budget Office

• Cathy Caldwell, director of the Bureau of Children’s Health Insurance in the Alabama Department of Public Health

For the full materials associated with the briefing, please visit the Alliance for Health Reform website.