Congressional Research Service

P.l. 111-3: the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 Congressional Research Service

Publisher Marketing: The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H. R. 2, CHIPRA) was first passed in the House on January 14, 2009, and an amended version was passed in the Senate on January 29, 2009. On February 4, 2009, the House passed H. R. 2 as amended by the Senate and later that day President Obama signed the bill into law as P. L. 111-3. One of the provisions of CHIPRA permits using CHIP as the program's acronym, instead of SCHIP. This report reflects this change, using CHIP instead of SCHIP. The overall structure of CHIPRA is similar to its two predecessors, H. R. 976 and H. R. 3963 from the 110th Congress. This report summarizes changes to prior law made by CHIPRA, and provides a brief legislative history of the major State Children's Health Insurance (CHIP) reauthorization bills in the 110th and 111th Congresses. This report reflects the provisions at the time of CHIPRA's enactment. It is meant to serve as a historical reference to the complete set of provisions included in the law, as of February 4, 2009. It will not be updated to capture subsequent legislative changes, program guidance, public notices, or rulemaking. Key statutory changes affecting the CHIPRA provisions are listed in the subsection titled "The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA)" and are further identified through footnotes tied to the relevant provisions. However, these changes are not reflected in provision descriptions included in the body of this report. (For a current description of program rules and state activity, see CRS Report R43627, State Children's Health Insurance Program: An Overview.)