What Are CHIP and Children's Medicaid?
Texas has two programs that provide health coverage for uninsured children: Children's Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Children's Medicaid provides free health insurance to children in low-income families. CHIP provides low-cost health care coverage for children in working families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. A family of four earning up to $4,000 a year could insure all their kids for $50 or less-to see if your family is eligible, try our calculator.
CHIP and Children's Medicaid keep kids healthy by providing full regular checkups, immunizations, prescription drugs, lab tests, X-rays, hospital visits, dental care, glasses, and more. More importantly, children on Medicaid and CHIP receive regular health care so that they miss less school, their parents miss less work to care for them, and they don't rely on hospital emergency rooms for treatment. This saves local taxpayers money and keeps the cost of private insurance premiums down for everyone.
Thanks to the success of these programs and the hard work of leaders, the business community, families, advocates, and volunteers across the state, over 2.2 million Texas children are enrolled in CHIP and Children's Medicaid. However, there are still more than 750,000 uninsured children in the state who are eligible but not enrolled in either program. It is our goal to insure all Texas kids. This is a problem with a cure-and we'd love your help!