In this memorandum, Holland & Knight's Healthcare & Life Sciences Team summarizes recent legislative action on funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

The Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Oct. 4, 2017, approved each chamber's respective draft legislation to extend funding for CHIP. Direct appropriations for CHIP, which was last reauthorized as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015, were provided through Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, which ended on Sept. 30, 2017. There is a measure of urgency in moving a reauthorization, as some states may begin to exhaust their existing funding allotments. To date, the reauthorization effort has remained largely bipartisan, although proposed "offsets" to pay for the House bill have drawn objections from Democrats.