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Committee backs bill to align CHIP income limit with federal 205% threshold
Summary
The House Human Services Committee voted to recommend do‑pass on House Bill 1070, which updates North Dakota law to reflect the CMS‑approved maximum for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP): 200% of the federal poverty level plus a 5 percentage‑point standard income disregard (205%). The department estimated about 96 children would fall
The Department of Health and Human Services asked the House Human Services Committee to approve House Bill 1070, which would align the state Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) income eligibility with the federal maximum the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will approve for North Dakota.
"This is the maximum federal poverty line that North Dakota can be approved by CMS for CHIP," said Krista Freming, assistant director of the Medical Services Division at DHHS, describing federal rules that set the optional targeted low‑income children’s group at either 200 percent of the federal poverty level or a different historic state threshold; the department said CMS approval permits a 5 percentage‑point standardized income disregard for a total of 205 percent.
Background: The 2023 legislative session raised the state CHIP income limit from 175 percent to 210 percent of the federal poverty level. After that change, DHHS officials said they learned from CMS that the federal regulatory maximum North Dakota could obtain approval for was 200 percent with a 5 percent disregard (205 percent). The department estimated about 96 children currently in the 205‑to‑210 FPL range would not be covered if the state did not enact the alignment.
Freming told the committee the bill carries no fiscal impact because any enrollment changes from moving to the CMS‑approved level were factored into the department’s base budget. She advised the committee that if federal guidance changes, the department would likely need to return to the Legislature for further adjustment to state law because income eligibility is typically established by statute.
Committee action: The committee voted to recommend a do‑pass on HB 1070; the clerk’s roll call showed unanimous yes votes among members present. The department said the change simply conforms state law to the federal parameters that CMS will approve and estimated the change affects roughly 96 children who otherwise would have been left out of eligibility if the state stayed at the 210 percent figure without CMS approval.
