To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to provide for a special rule during the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 for the redistribution of certain Children's Health Insurance Program allocations for certain shortfall States.

To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to provide for a special rule during the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 for the redistribution of certain Children’s Health Insurance Program allocations for certain shortfall States. 1. CHIP allocation redistribution special rule for certain shortfall States during first quarter of fiscal year 2018 Section 2104(f)(2) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1397dd(f)(2) (1) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows: (B) Determination of redistributed amounts if insufficient amounts available (i) Proration rule Subject to clause (ii), if the amounts available for redistribution under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year are less than the total amounts of the estimated shortfalls determined for the year under subparagraph (A), the amount to be redistributed under such paragraph for each shortfall State shall be reduced proportionally. (ii) Special rule for first quarter of fiscal year 2018 (I) In general For the period beginning on October 1, 2017, and ending December 31, 2017, with respect to any amounts available for redistribution under paragraph (1) for fiscal year 2018, the Secretary shall redistribute under such paragraph such amounts to each emergency shortfall State (as defined in subclause (II)) in such amount as is equal to the amount of the shortfall described in subclause (II) for such State and period (as may be adjusted under subparagraph (C)) before the Secretary may redistribute such amounts to any shortfall State that is not an emergency shortfall State. In the case of any amounts redistributed under this subclause to a State that is not an emergency shortfall State, such amounts shall be determined in accordance with clause (i). (II) Emergency shortfall State defined For purposes of this clause, the term emergency shortfall State 2017 2018 (III) Application of qualifying State option During the period described in subclause (I), section 2105(g)(4) shall apply to a qualifying State (as defined in section 2105(g)(2)) as if under section 2105(g)(4)— (aa) the reference to 2017 2018 (bb) the reference to under subsections (e) and (m) of such section under subsections (e), (f), and (m) of such section ; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: (D) Rule of construction Nothing in this paragraph may be construed as preventing a commonwealth or territory described in subsection (c)(3) from being treated as a shortfall State or an emergency shortfall State. .

Summary: This bill amends title XXI (Children's Health Insurance Program [CHIP]) of the Social Security Act to establish a special rule, with respect to the first quarter of FY2018, for the redistribution of unused CHIP allotments to state child health plans experiencing emergency shortfalls. Specifically, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must redistribute unused allotments to each such state in an amount equal to the state's emergency shortfall before the CMS may redistribute the allotments to any state that is experiencing a nonemergency shortfall.