Rehabs That Take Utah CHIP

What Is Utah CHIP and Who Runs It?

Utah CHIP is the state’s version of a joint federal and state program created in 1997 and signed into law that August. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, inside the US Department of Health and Human Services, writes the federal rules; the Utah Department of Health Medicaid runs the program and holds the plan contracts. Its general member line is 866-435-7414.

There is no parent company and no shareholder behind CHIP anywhere in the country. Federal records for fiscal year 2024 count 46 thousand Utah children with CHIP-funded coverage, a small share of a national figure of about 9.2 million. Because the money is federal and the design is Utah’s, a question about whether something is covered usually has to be put to the state agency or the plan, not to a national helpline.

Which Plans a Family Can Choose

Three contracted plans carry Utah CHIP. Select Health, headquartered in Murray, lists CHIP alongside its Medicaid, employer, marketplace and Medicare lines, with member services for Medicaid and CHIP on 855-442-3234. Molina Healthcare of Utah lists three public products, Medicaid, Medicaid Integrated Care and CHIP, on (888) 483-0760 with TTY 711. Healthy U CHIP comes from University of Utah Health Plans, reachable on 1-833-404-4300.

What Healthy U Is

Healthy U is the public programs brand of University of Utah Health Plans, the not-for-profit health plan arm of University of Utah Health, organized in 1998 and based in Murray. It administers medical, mental health treatment and pharmacy benefits across four public products: Healthy U Medicaid, Healthy U Integrated, Healthy U Behavioral in Summit County, and Healthy U CHIP. The Medicaid and CHIP products are statewide and advertise access to any hospital in Utah.

How Long Coverage Lasts

Since January 1, 2024 a child under 19 enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP keeps 12 months of continuous eligibility, so a change in household income partway through the year does not interrupt a course of treatment. A federal rule finalized in November 2024 went further and removed unpaid premiums as a permitted reason to end CHIP coverage inside that 12-month stretch.

Who Is Eligible, and How Does a Parent Apply?

A child has to be under 19, uninsured, a Utah resident, a US citizen or qualified immigrant, and in a household whose income falls inside the state’s range. Applications are taken at any time of year rather than in a window, and a single state application decides whether the child lands in Medicaid or in CHIP.

Upper income limits are set state by state and run nationally from roughly 170 to 400 percent of the federal poverty level; the Utah figure is not published in the material behind this page, so a family close to the line should ask the agency to run the numbers rather than guess. Children in public institutions are generally excluded, and a lawfully present immigrant child may be covered without the usual five-year federal wait where the state has taken that option.

Where a Parent Starts the Application

Three routes exist. A family can apply through the Utah agency directly, through a federal marketplace account or by phone on 1-800-318-2596, with TTY on 1-855-889-4325, or through the national children’s coverage line on 1-877-543-7669, which Select Health publishes for Utah CHIP applications under the Kids Now name. Applications can be made online, by phone, by mail or in person.

Does Utah CHIP Cover Drug and Alcohol Rehab for a Teenager?

Yes. Both halves of a combination program reach substance use treatment, by different routes. A separately designed CHIP has had to cover services that prevent, diagnose and treat a broad range of mental health symptoms and disorders, substance use disorders included, since the federal SUPPORT Act took effect on October 24, 2019.

Children funded through the Medicaid expansion half get the state’s full Medicaid child benefit package instead, including the early and periodic diagnostic and treatment entitlement for members under 21, which reaches prevention, assessment and treatment services. In practice that means a teenager in either half has a claim to care; what differs is which rulebook the plan reads when it decides a level.

Federal guidance names no levels of care at all. A state has to show its benefit array is wide enough to treat a broad range of behavioral health symptoms and disorders, and any limit on amount, duration or scope is permitted only where it can be exceeded when medically necessary. Parity then requires that behavioral health limits be no tighter than those on medical and surgical care, which covers copays, service caps and the medical necessity criteria themselves. So a quoted cap on residential rehab is the beginning of a conversation with the plan, not the end of one.

Does Utah CHIP Need Prior Authorization for Residential Treatment?

Yes, in practice, though the rule is written by the plan rather than by Washington. No federal authorization list exists for CHIP, and medical necessity criteria fall under parity. Federal guidance names The ASAM Criteria, the Child and Adolescent Service Intensity Instrument and the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths tool as examples of how a child’s level is decided.

Utah adds a routing question that a parent should settle early, because residential treatment in this state does not always sit with the health plan. For standard Healthy U Medicaid members, behavioral health runs through a county prepaid mental health plan; for members of the integrated plans in Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Weber and Washington counties it is handled in house; and Healthy U Behavioral covers Summit County. Ask the plan on the child’s card which of those applies to CHIP specifically before an admissions team files anything for an intensive outpatient program or a residential stay.

Medication and the Separate Drug List

Federal CHIP rules require medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder as clinically appropriate for a child, without naming any individual drug; the list is the state’s and the plan’s. University of Utah Health Plans publishes a searchable formulary for Healthy U CHIP that is separate from its Healthy U Medicaid, commercial and individual lists, so a medicine covered on a sibling’s card may sit differently on a CHIP card. Check the CHIP formulary by name.

How Much Does Rehab Cost With Utah CHIP?

Total family cost sharing in any CHIP is capped at about 5 percent of annual household income, and well-baby and well-child visits carry no charge at all. A state may levy limited enrollment fees, premiums, deductibles, coinsurance and copays within that ceiling; the Utah amounts are not stated in the material behind this page, so ask the agency for the current schedule.

One structural point helps. Where a child is funded through the Medicaid expansion half, Medicaid cost sharing rules apply instead, and federal analysts note those children generally receive services without enrollee charges. Below the lower income thresholds, premiums in CHIP cannot exceed what Medicaid would allow.

Utah’s own prices sit a little under the national middle. Medical detox in the state runs $1,540 to $4,900 a week, or $220 to $700 a day; residential care $6,000 to $25,000 a month, or $200 to $830 a day; partial hospitalization $7,000 to $13,500 a month; intensive outpatient $2,500 to $9,000 a month, or $80 to $300 a day; and routine outpatient $1,200 to $5,000 a month.

Where the Market Price Still Applies

Those figures are what a program charges without coverage, and CHIP and Medicaid pay contracted rates instead. A family meets the sticker price only where the care sits outside the program altogether, which is why the county routing question above matters financially as well as administratively. Ask who the payer is before the first session, not after the first bill.

Is Utah CHIP the Same as Utah Medicaid or Healthy U?

No, though all three names can appear in one family’s paperwork. Utah CHIP and Utah Medicaid are sister programs run by the same state agency, sharing one application, with CHIP sitting above the Medicaid income line. Healthy U is neither: it is one of the three plan brands that deliver them.

Healthy U belongs to University of Utah Health Plans, and the same answer holds the other way round: Healthy U is simply that company’s name for its public products, so Healthy U CHIP and University of Utah Health Plans are not two different insurers. Utah Medicaid separately contracts Healthy U and Molina Healthcare of Utah as accountable care organizations, and Select Health runs Select Health Community Care. A card saying Healthy U CHIP therefore names the program, the plan brand and the company all at once.

The practical difference between the two programs shows up at the edges: cost sharing, which rulebook governs the benefit array, and what happens at renewal. A shift in household income can move a child from one program to the other at the 12-month review, and the plan network can change with it, so the card is worth rechecking before any admission rather than after.

How Do I Find a Rehab That Takes Utah CHIP for My Child?

Call the plan named on the child’s card first and ask for a contracted adolescent substance use program, then ask whether behavioral health for that card runs through the plan or through a county prepaid mental health plan. Ask the admissions team which Utah license it treats minors under and whether it is contracted for CHIP specifically.

Two further checks save weeks. The state licensing lookup will confirm what a site is licensed to deliver, and the plan’s own directory will confirm network status, which is contracted separately from the Medicaid network even inside one company. Utah holds a federal substance use disorder demonstration waiver, and the agency on 866-435-7414 can say how that affects an adolescent request in the child’s county.

Programs that accept this coverage are gathered on the Children’s Health Insurance Program page, with related pages for outpatient rehab and case management. Each listing shows the levels of care a program offers, the payments it says it accepts, licensing and accreditation shown where The Joint Commission or CARF lists the facility, and how far the site sits from the nearest airport.

References and Citations

• Utah Department of Health Medicaid — Utah CHIP program description, contracted accountable care organizations and integrated plan counties, member and application contact lines.
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — CHIP eligibility and cost sharing rules, continuous eligibility from January 1, 2024, the November 2024 premium rule, and the state health official letter on required behavioral health and medication benefits.
• University of Utah Health Plans, Select Health and Molina Healthcare of Utah — published Utah CHIP plan pages, member and nurse lines, behavioral health routing and the separate Healthy U CHIP formulary.
• MACPAC — CHIP program design classifications and CHIP-funded enrollment by state for federal fiscal year 2024.
• RehabSeekers directory listings and market rate research, United States, 2026. Ranges are indicative and vary by facility, length of stay and coverage.