CMS is making extra money available to states whose State Children’s Health Insurance Program funds are exhausted so that no enrolled child will risk losing services. States have three years in which to spend each year’s SCHIP allotment. At the end of that three-year period, unspent funds are redistributed to states that have exhausted their allotments. This year, however, the amount of surplus funds was only $173 million, far short of the $456 million that was needed to keep every SCHIP program running. Congress granted additional funds to the SCHIP program as part of the new Deficit Reduction Act, and CMS began distributing the special grant funds this past Friday to 12 shortfall states and American territories. The notice of the reallotment of SCHIP funds, together with the special DRA funds, appears in today’s Federal Register. Click here to download the notice.
