Health Care/ CHIP Program/ Health Insurance

Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
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Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
The “Children Health insurance Program (CHIP)” is an insurance program offered by the Department of health in the U.S. This program is aimed for families who have an income that is a bit high for Medicaid but then too low to afford insurance plan from private providers. The program is jointly funded by both the state and the federal government. CHIP insurance program can only benefit children who are under the age of 19 (Smith, 2011). However, in some states, the program covers pregnant women as well as parents. For the program to be able to offer its services more effectively, it works very closely with Medicaid.
Services covered by CHIP insurance program varies from state to state though there are some services that are generally offered by all the states. Such services include x-rays, dental care, immunizations, doctor visits, routine check-ups and laboratory services (Smith, 2011). While most of the services covered by CHIP program are free, there are some that require one to make a small additional payment. Eligible households are supposed to pay a yearly premium. However, the premium cannot go beyond 5% of what the household earns per year.
In Florida, children who have just been born are eligible to apply for the program all the way to the end of eighteen years of age. CHIP can be applied any time of the year and it does not attract any application cost (Florida Healthy Kids, 2018).

All that an eligible person residing in Florida is supposed to do to apply is visit the Florida Kidcare website and apply. The website is user-friendly and thus, easy to apply. For a child to benefit from this program in Florida, he or she must be receding in Florida and must be a U.S citizen. The household income must also be low.
References
Florida Healthy Kids. (2018). Florida Kidcare: Quality, affordable health and dental insurance for kids. Retrieved from https://www.floridakidcare.org/
Smith, D. G. (2011). The Children’s Health Insurance Program: Past and future. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.