The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (known as “FAMIS” in Virginia) provides medical and dental coverage to more than 113,000 children and 1,300 pregnant women in Virginia whose families earn up to 200% FPL (or $47,700 for a family of four) – just over the Medicaid income limit of 143% FPL. Smiles for Children provides the same dental coverage to children enrolled in Medicaid and in FAMIS.
Unfortunately, CHIP's future is up in the air because the program's funding expires on September 30, 2015. Unless Congress passes legislation to extend funding, Virginia families who rely on FAMIS for their children's dental and medical care will lose access to this comprehensive, affordable health coverage.
VaOHC is monitoring this issue and teaming up with national partners to ensure no Virginians lose coverage. Of note, we recently joined our partners to send this letter to Congress in support of the CHIP Extension and Improvement Act of 2014.
For more information, the Children's Dental Health Project has produced an issue brief exploring why the program is so critical and deserves continued funding.
