Keeping Coverage Affordable: Addressing CHIP “Premium Stacking”

This fact sheet examines the difficulty some low-income families will face with affording health coverage in the health insurance marketplaces.

While the Affordable Care Act was designed ensure that Americans can afford quality health coverage, there are still loopholes in the system. The health care law limits the amount a family must pay for health coverage through their state marketplace if their income is low enough. But this calculation does not factor in what some families pay for CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program). Therefore, these families may not get enough financial assistance to pay for health coverage through the marketplace. This problem, referred to as CHIP “premium stacking,” requires action be taken to help low-income families afford health coverage.

Find out how states can address this problem by reducing or eliminating CHIP premiums. See if your state is one of the 17 (including the District of Columbia) that doesn’t charge premiums for CHIP. For the other 33 states, see how much a family of four with two children would have to pay in CHIP premiums each year. The fact sheet also shows how much these families would have to pay for both CHIP and marketplace premiums.