OKPOLICY.ORG
CHIP – the Children’s Health Insurance Program, formerly known as SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) – was a program enacted by Congress in 1997 as a way to expand health coverage to children in families with income above the traditional eligibility level for Medicaid. States were provided an enhanced federal Medicaid match for enrolling children who became newly eligible for coverage under CHIP.
States were given the option of either expanding their Medicaid program up to 185% of the federal poverty level, or designing a stand-alone CHIP program that was administered separately from Medicaid and could offer slightly different benefits. Some states received federal approval to use CHIP funds to cover certain adults, including pregnant women and parents of children receiving benefits from both CHIP and Medicaid.
Months prior to Congressional passage of SCHIP, Oklahoma had enacted legislation, SB 639, that expanded Medicaid for children and pregnant women to 185% of the federal poverty level. With implementation of SQ 639 already underway, Oklahoma opted against creating a separate CHIP program and instead received an enhanced federal match to cover those who became newly eligible for Medicaid under SB 639.
Enacted in the wake of the Clinton Administration’s failed effort to enact universal health coverage, CHIP represented the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S. since the establishment of Medicaid in 1965. There were 7.2 million people enrolled in CHIP nationally as of June 2025, and 74,888 Oklahomans, out of a total state Medicaid enrollment (including CHIP) of 1,008,700. The program has been reauthorized multiple times by Congress and is currently funded through FY 2027 based on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
