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Iowa has sufficient money for the Children's Health Insurance Program to last at least through next March, but an official said Monday that if funding were to be exhausted the state would face "significant policy and fiscal implications."

Known as CHIP at the federal level, the program covers about 9 million kids nationwide in low- to moderate-income households. However, the program expired over the weekend as Congress failed to pass an extension.

In Iowa, about 60,000 kids get health insurance with CHIP funding, with 44,000 on the Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa, or hawk-i, program. The rest are part of the state's Medicaid expansion effort.

The law does allow the use of unspent funds from prior years, so states are currently relying on those accounts. However, some states are in better shape than others with those funds.

Matt Highland, a Department of Human Services official, said Monday that Iowa has enough money to last through next March but, with no other allotments, funding would be depleted sometime in the quarter ending June 30.