WASHINGTON – Colorado’s governor and a congresswoman are pressuring  federal lawmakers to renew the CHIP program that provides medical insurance to children of low-income families.

Republican congressional leaders are giving hints the Children’s Health Insurance Program will continue but not in its current form.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, helped to organize a request to Congress this week by a dozen governors to reauthorize the program, commonly called CHIP.

The letter they sent to congressional leaders says that unless the expired program is renewed, “access to essential health services like well child exams, asthma medicine and hospitalizations will be at risk. As health insurance premiums climb at unsustainable rates, this program gives hard-working families access to otherwise unaffordable coverage.”

CHIP provides health insurance for about 9 million children and pregnant women nationwide whose incomes barely rise above the threshold to receive Medicaid. About 75,000 of them are in Colorado, where the same program is called Children’s Health Plan Plus, or CHP+.

Last week, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing sent letters to the program’s participants suggesting they find alternate coverage. The state’s supplemental funding for the program is expected to run out in January.

“In the absence of Congressional action, we have worked to protect coverage for children and pregnant women in each of our states, but we will need federal support to continue the program,” the letter from a bipartisan group of governors says. “Resources are nearly exhausted and some states already have begun to inform families that their children’s coverage may end on January 31.”

Colorado spends about $185 million a year on the Children’s Health Plan Plus, according to the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. About 90 percent of the funding comes from the federal government.

The governors sent their letter to to House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, chose the same congressional leaders for a letter she helped to author that makes a plea to rescue the program. The letter was signed by 99 members of Congress.

“CHIP is a critical program that provides health coverage to millions of children and must be reauthorized immediately,” said the letter.

The House approved a modified extension of CHIP but the Senate has not yet voted on its reauthorization bill.

Federal funding expired Sept. 30 for the $14 billion a year program but temporarily was extended to Dec. 22 under a stop-gap funding bill.

The debate in Congress on the reauthorization shows nearly all lawmakers agree CHIP should be renewed in some form. The disagreement is over what form the new program will take.

“We will continue to work toward a solution with the Senate to ensure states do not run out of money,” AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokesperson, told Colorado Politics. “The short-term [continuing resolution] passed by both chambers last week provided assistance for the states facing shortfalls.”

A growing likelihood based on statements from Ryan is that CHIP is going to be revamped before it is reauthorized.

Ryan said one of the first priorities when Congress reconvenes in 2018 is to rework entitlement programs, such as Medicare, to reduce the federal deficit. He didn’t specifically mention CHIP but the program is the kind of entitlement he discussed.

The House and Senate bills to extend CHIP closely parallel each other.

The bill from the House Energy and Commerce Committee would extending funds for CHIP for five years. The Senate Finance Committee also proposed a five-year extension.

Both of them seek to reduce the 23 percent funding increase for CHIP that the Affordable Care Act would provide over the next two years.