The Importance of CHIP

Guest: Tricia Brooks, Senior Fellow, Center for Children and Families, and Associate Research Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University The deal lawmakers struck to reopen the government on Monday only lasts until February 8, but that measure did include a longer-term fix to a program called “CHIP” – the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Despite bitter partisan division, Congress somehow agreed to provide six years of federal money for that program. The news comes as a relief to the families of nearly 9 million children who get health insurance through CHIP.