Advocates for children’s health started worrying months ago that congressional incompetence would jeopardize the nation’s one indisputable healthcare success — the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has reduced the uninsured rate among kids to 5% from 14% over the two decades of its existence.
Their fears turned out to be true. Funding for CHIP runs out on Saturday, and no vote on reestablishing the program’s $15-billion appropriation is expected for at least a week, probably longer. That’s the case even though CHIP is one of the few federal programs that has enjoyed unalloyed bipartisan support since its inception in 1997.
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The impact of delay varies by state, because states are able to apply unspent CHIP money in any fiscal year to the next year. But even those with money in their coffers can’t escape the consequences of Congress’ inaction. Because they can’t merely assume that Congress will eventually get around to reauthorizing the funding, they have to start planning to shut down their programs now, or reallocate funding from other social programs. According to Medicaid officials, who manage CHIP from the federal end, California, Arizona, Minnesota and North Carolina will run out of CHIP funding by December or early in January. Half the states won’t make it beyond the first three months of 2018. Some will run out of money next week.
Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper warned her congressional delegation on Sept. 13 that the state’s $115-million allotment for CHIP would run out this weekend, throwing healthcare for low-income children, infants and pregnant women into chaos.
The Affordable Care Act bumped up all CHIP allocations to states by 23 percentage points from 2014 through 2019, bringing the total federal share to 100% for some poorer states such as Mississippi and West Virginia, and no less than 88% for all others.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program has brought healthcare to millions of kids. Why was it so hard for Congress to make sure its funding was secure?
That enhanced funding became a bone of contention for congressional conservatives, who wanted the increase axed outright.
Hearseeno 