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Territories to receive temporary increase to Children's Health Insurance Program

Washington, D.C. –  On Friday Congresswoman Aumua Amata said that a provision contained in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which will temporarily increase federal coverage of CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) payments will go into effect beginning October 1, 2017. This increase will affect all five insular territories.

“I am pleased to relay the implementation of this temporary increase,” stated Amata. “However, we must continue to work to set permanent changes to how CHIP, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs are funded in the territories. My fellow territorial members and I have been working on this issue since my arrival in congress and I am hopeful that we will see some real changes soon,” concluded the Congresswoman.

CHIP is a Federal program that covers health insurance for children under the age of 19 who meet certain Federal requirements. Currently the Federal Government covers 68.5% of CHIP expenditures in each territory, with territorial governments covering the other 32.5%.  This temporary two-year increase will raise federal contributions by 23%, increasing the total coverage by the federal government to 91.5% through September 2019.