The effective date of coverage for CHIP is the date of application (or date of application minus number of days Grace Period granted). When an emergency or some other circumstance beyond the control of the applicant prevents them from filing a CHIP application, a grace period beginning no earlier than a defined number of days prior to the date an applicant submits a completed and signed application is allowed.
The effective date for coverage is set at case creation. The certification period is also set at case creation using the effective date plus the CHIP continuous eligibility period.