Nevada governor calls on delegation to back Children’s Health Insurance Program funding

Gov. Brian Sandoval has sent letters to Nevada’s congressional delegation urging them to back reauthorization of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“More than 40,000 children in Nevada depend on CHIP for medical insurance to meet their individual healthcare needs,” said Sandoval. “This includes children who are currently receiving treatment for serious medical conditions which will be jeopardized without congressional action.”

Authorization for CHIP expired in September and Congress has yet to renew it.

At the same time, Sandoval announced that Nevada’s Health and Human Services Department has received approval from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for $5.6 million in what is called redistribution funds. That is money previously allocated to states for their CHIP programs that wasn’t used before the end of the federal fiscal year. Without that approval, Sandoval said, Nevada would have been without federal funding for the program on Dec. 15. This money will carry Nevada’s CHIP program through December and January.