Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is an insurance program for children whose parents make too much money for publicly-funded insurance but don’t have access to employer-based insurance. It fills the gap and provides insurance for children of working families.
While implemented in every state nationwide, it is called by different names in many states. CHIP is sometimes a stand-alone program for independent enrollment. Some states combine it with Medicaid to increase eligibility. Contact your primary care provider or financial service advisor to see if you are eligible.
CHIP covers EPSDT (early periodic screening for diagnosis and treatment) services. This includes well visits, vaccinations, chronic illnesses and urgent care. These are important benefits for which children need access to stay healthy.
CHIP has been introduced and reauthorized annually by both political parties. It has wide acceptance and appreciation. It’s always been reauthorized in the past but hasn’t been reauthorized by the Federal government this year.
Your voice as a citizen can help save CHIP. Call your representatives in Congress and express the value of this program. Speak with friends and neighbors. Inform people who don’t know about it. Write letters to the newspaper. If your children are assisted by CHIP, express how it benefits your family.
You can learn more about CHIP here.
Listen as Dr. Lee Beers joins Melanie Cole, MS to discuss the importance of CHIP.
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Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP)
Featuring:
Lee Ann Savio Beers, MD, is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Medical Director for Municipal and Regional Affairs within Children’s National’s Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health and Child Health Advocacy Institute. She is also the Director of the DC Mental Health Access in Pediatrics (DC MAP) program and Co-Director of the Early Childhood Innovation Network. She oversees the DC Collaborative for Mental Health in Pediatric Primary Care, a public-private coalition that serves as a catalyst to elevate the standard of mental health care for every young person in the city by increasing primary care provider capacity and achieving systemic policy change.
She earned her Medical Degree from Emory University School of Medicine and completed a pediatric residency at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth VA. Prior to joining Children’s National, she was a general pediatrician at the Naval Hospital in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.
Dr. Beers has held numerous leadership positions in the American Academy of Pediatrics, and serves in a wide variety of leadership and advisory positions within the Washington DC community, including the Mayor’s State Early Childhood Development Coordinating Council. Her clinical and research interests include adolescent pregnancy and parenting, the integration of mental health and pediatric primary care, the impact of adversity and stress on child well-being and advocacy education.
Lee Beers, MD
Lee Ann Savio Beers, MD, is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Medical Director for Municipal and Regional Affairs within Children’s National’s Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health and Child Health Advocacy Institute. She is also the Director of the DC Mental Health Access in Pediatrics (DC MAP) program and Co-Director of the Early Childhood Innovation Network. She oversees the DC Collaborative for Mental Health in Pediatric Primary Care, a public-private coalition that serves as a catalyst to elevate the standard of mental health care for every young person in the city by increasing primary care provider capacity and achieving systemic policy change. She earned her Medical Degree from Emory University School of Medicine and completed a pediatric residency at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth VA. Prior to joining Children’s National, she was a general pediatrician at the Naval Hospital in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.
Dr. Beers has held numerous leadership positions in the American Academy of Pediatrics, and serves in a wide variety of leadership and advisory positions within the Washington DC community, including the Mayor’s State Early Childhood Development Coordinating Council. Her clinical and research interests include adolescent pregnancy and parenting, the integration of mental health and pediatric primary care, the impact of adversity and stress on child well-being and advocacy education.