Federal grant programs / Department of Health and Human Services

Children's Health Insurance Program (93.767)

Also known as (CHIP)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$96 billion
• Grant awards461
• Typical award$66.7 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$21 billion
• Size rank6 of 1824
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $18 billion in fiscal 2021 to $21 billion in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 6th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 79% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 56 states and territories.

What the program funds

The objective of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is to provide funds to States to enable them to maintain and expand child health assistance to uninsured, low-income children, and at a state option, low-income pregnant women and legal immigrants, primarily by three methods: (1) operating a separate CHIP program; (2) expanding eligibility for children under the State's Medicaid program; and (3) or operating both a separate CHIP and a Medicaid expansion program. The objective of the Connecting Kids to Coverage (CKC) Outreach and Enrollment Grants is to reduce the number of uninsured children eligible for Medicaid, CHIP and insurance affordability programs who are not enrolled and improve retention of those who are already enrolled. The latest cohort of grants were authorized under Section 3004(a) of the Helping Ensure Access for Little Ones, Toddlers, and Hopeful Youth by Keeping Insurance Delivery Stable Act (referred to as the HEALTHY KIDS Act and included in Pub. L. 115-120). CMS awarded a total of $48 million to eligible entities, including states, local governments, schools, health care providers, community-based public or non-profit organizations, and Indian tribes or tribal consortiums, tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations receiving funds under Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1651 et seq.), and Indian Health Service providers. These grants support outreach strategies aimed at increasing enrollment of eligible, but not enrolled,children in Medicaid and CHIP, emphasizing outreach and enrollment activities tailored to communities where eligible children and families reside and enlisting community leaders and programs that serve eligible children and families. These grants also fund activities designed to help families understand application procedures and health coverage opportunities under Medicaid and CHIP. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also made awards of $6 million exclusively for Indian health care providers and tribal entities to conduct outreach and enrollment activities aimed at American Indians and Alaska Natives. Indian health care providers and tribal entities were permitted to apply for either or both funding opportunities as long as the work described was different in each proposal.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

CHIP: States, Territories, and Commonwealths CKC grants: The following entities are eligible to apply for the Connecting Kids to Coverage Cooperative Agreements: s: States with an approved child health plan under this title [42 U.S.C. Section1397aa et seq.];local governments; Indian tribes or tribal consortium, tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations receiving funds under title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1651 et seq.), or Indian Health Service providers; federal health safety net organizations; national, state, local, or community-based public or nonprofit private organizations, including organizations that use community health workers or community-based doula programs; faith-based organizations or consortia, to the extent that a cooperative agreement awarded to such an entity is consistent with the requirements of Section 1955 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x-65) relating to a grant award to nongovernmental entities; and/or elementary or secondary schools may apply. For eligibility requirements for the Connecting Kids to Coverage Cooperative Agreements, refer to the funding opportunity announcements (Agency Funding Opportunity Numbers: CMS-141-19-001 for the General Outreach and Enrollment Grants and CMS- 2D2-20-001 for the Outreach and Enrollment Grants Focused on Increasing the Enrollment and Retention of American Indian and Alaska Native Children in Medicaid and CHIP).

What the money can and cannot pay for

CHIP: No State is eligible for payments for child health assistance for coverage provided prior to October 1, 1997. Standards used to determine eligibility may include those related to geographic areas to be served by the plan. Age, income and resources, residency, disability status (as long as the standard does not restrict eligibility), access to or coverage under other health coverage, and duration of eligibility are factors. Standards may not discriminate on the basis of diagnosis. Eligibility standards must not cover higher-income children without covering lower-income children, and must not deny eligibility based on a child having a pre-existing medical condition. The State must ensure that only targeted low-income children are furnished child health assistance under the plan. Children found through screening to be eligible for Medicaid are to be enrolled in Medicaid. The insurance provided using Federal funds under the State plan does may not substitute for coverage under group health plans. Coordination with other public and private programs providing creditable coverage for low-income children should occur.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Title XXI of the the Act Matching Requirements: Percent: Section 2105(b), provides for an "enhanced Federal Matching Assistance Percentage (EFMAP)" for child health assistance provided under Title XXI that is equal to the current FMAP for the period under section 1905(b) of the Act, increased by 30 percent of the difference between 100 and the current FMAP for that fiscal year, not to exceed 85 percent. For the periods 10/1/2015 – 9/30/2019 and 10/1/2019 – 9/30/2020 states’ EFMAPs were increased by 23 percentage points and 11.5 percentage points, respectively, not to exceed 100 percent. In FY 2009, the CHIPRA implemented a limitation on matching rates for states that propose to cover children with effective family income that exceeds 300 percent of the poverty line to FMAP rather than EFMAP, unless a waiver or State Plan Amendment or state law was in place to cover this population before the enactment of CHIPRA. Section 2104(a) of the Act provides appropriations through September 30, 2027 for the purpose of providing allotments to the states to fund their CHIP programs. States with approved State Plans by the end of the fiscal year are included in the final allotment calculation.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

Deadlines

Deadlines do not apply CHIP: No deadlines CKC grants: Application deadlines for the Connecting Kids to Coverage Cooperative Agreements are dependent on the final release date for the Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement (NOFO). Refer to the website www.insurekidsnow.gov for the NOFO and application deadline updates.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

CHIP: For matching grants for annual CHIP allotments, the projected awards for FY 2024 will range from $1,551,000 (American Samoa) to $3,463,271,000 (California). CKC grants: For the Connecting Kids to Coverage Cooperative Agreements, the awarded amounts ranged from $316,349 up to $1,500,000 for the full three years of the project period.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2018: See www.insurekidsnow.gov/campaign/funding/index.html for more information about the history of the Connecting Kids to Coverage grants and an overview of current and past grantees.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to state and local governments.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.