SCHIP Provisions of H.R. 6164 (NIH Reform Act of 2006)

Publication Date: December 2006

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Health

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Abstract:

The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a federal-state matching program providing health insurance to targeted low-income children (and some adults) in families with income above Medicaid eligibility levels. Because SCHIP is a capped-grant program, it is possible for states to exhaust all of the federal SCHIP funds available to them in a given year. According to data available in early December 2006, 14 states are projected to exhaust their federal SCHIP funds in FY2007 (i.e., have a federal SCHIP shortfall). On December 9, 2006, the House passed the Senate's amendment (passed hours before) to H.R. 6164 (National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006). The SCHIP provisions of H.R. 6164 require a redistribution of certain unspent FY2004 and FY2005 SCHIP original allotments to shortfall states in FY2007. The goal is to delay as long as possible the date in FY2007 on which any state faces a shortfall. Congress may address the remaining FY2007 shortfalls as part of reauthorization that provides SCHIP with appropriations needed beginning in FY2008. The SCHIP provisions of H.R. 6164 delay shortfalls to the first part of May 2007, according to current CRS projections. Although the provisions redistribute an additional $125 million for projected FY2007 shortfalls, the shortfalls remaining for the rest of the fiscal year are projected at $716 million. This report summarizes the SCHIP provisions of H.R. 6164 and their impact on SCHIP financing in FY2007.