About 8,300 Delaware children are in jeopardy of losing their health insurance on Jan. 31 if Congress doesn't reauthorize money for the Children's Health Insurance Program, officials say.

The state program that uses that money, called the Delaware Healthy Children Program, provides low-cost health insurance to children whose parents don't qualify for Medicaid. Funding for CHIP, which usually garners bipartisan support, has been in limbo since its federal funds ran out on Sept. 30.

Congress has yet to agree on a plan to renew the $14 billion program that insures about 8.9 million children in the country. If the federal government fails to approve long-term funding for CHIP, about 1.9 million children across the country could lose coverage in January, according to a report released Wednesday by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

An additional 1 million children could be at risk for losing coverage by the end of February.

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In Delaware, the state adds $2.9 million to the federal $30 million to fund the Delaware Healthy Children Program.

States are grappling with how to save the program and are choosing between finding other sources for the money, freezing enrollment or shutting it down entirely.

Nemours/A.I. Dupont Hospital for Children saw about 6,000 children on CHIP in the last year for issues ranging from asthma to terminal illnesses, and many of them have special health care needs, said Dr. Jonathan Miller, the division chief for general pediatrics at the hospital.

CHIP, which also covers mental and dental health, is better than some insurance available on the private market because it's "really designed for children," he said.

If the insurance coverage from CHIP isn't available to families anymore, it will "absolutely impact" the kind of treatment they will be able to get at Nemours and overall in Delaware, Miller said.

"There's going to be a large group of kids, some of them who are medically vulnerable, who don't have access to care," he said.

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While Congress has not approved additional funding, it did pass a "patch" on Dec. 7. This patch reallocated $2.9 billion to 20 states that are running out of funds for CHIP the fastest. Delaware is one of these states, but the money will only allow the programs to operate through January, according to the Georgetown report.

Shifting the funds will cause the other states to run out of money faster than was previously estimated, making January the last month that all 50 states can cover CHIP, the report said.

It named Delaware one of the 18 states where children enrolled in separate CHIP programs are most at risk for losing coverage because funds are running out the fastest.

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Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long spoke to Nemours doctors and administrators on Wednesday about the status of CHIP in Delaware. Hall-Long, a nurse, said when a child doesn't have insurance, it can affect every aspect of their life.

"Not only does it disrupt the current situation that they’re in, this lays the seeds for health in the future," she said.

The state is relying on Congress to reauthorize the funding for CHIP since Delaware only contributes about 10 percent of what the federal government provides.

"$30 million is a really large gap," Hall-Long said.

There is bipartisan support for CHIP in Delaware. This fall, all 14 members of the Delaware House Health Committee — Republican and Democrat — wrote to the congressional delegation about fighting for the re-authorization of CHIP.

Will your family be affected?

The News Journal is looking to speak with families who are dependent on CHIP for their child's health care. Contact health reporter Meredith Newman at (302) 324-2386 or at mnewman@delawareonline.com.