Denver—Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is asking the state legislature to apply a nearly 10 million dollar band-aid to save the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The governor is calling on the state budget committee for the emergency funding because Congress hasn’t figured out how to keep the “CHIP” program going. The federal funding ran out October 1st and states have been dipping into reserves since then. Right now Colorado has enough money to pay for the state’s uninsured kids through January. Hickenlooper says an additional 9.6 million dollars will carry the program through the end of February. The CHIP provides low-cost coverage to children and pregnant women in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. Hickenlooper and 11 other governors from both parties sent a letter to Washington, D.C. urging Congress to reauthorize funding.
