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Proposed CHIP Changes Wouldn't Immediately Affect N.M.

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Earlier this week, President Donald Trump asked Congress to claw back $7 billion in federal funding for children’s health insurance coverage. But Washington, D.C.,’s decisions probably won’t have an immediate impact here.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, helps kids whose families make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

The White House said the move wouldn’t affect CHIP programs across the country because the money can only be used if the national economy goes south.

Bill Jordan with New Mexico Voices for Children agrees.

"There’s likely no harm to New Mexico as long as the economy stays strong," Jordan said.

Senator John Arthur Smith, vice-chair of New Mexico’s Legislative Finance Committee said that even if CHIP does face some federal funding problems, the state has enough money for it.

 

The program serves about 11,000 children in New Mexico.

 
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KUNM’s Public Health New Mexico project is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, and the Con Alma Health Foundation.

May joined KUNM's Public Health New Mexico team in early 2018. That same year, she established the New Mexico chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and received a fellowship from the Association of Health Care Journalists. She join Colorado Public Radio in late 2019.
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