Scramble Is On To Care For Kids If Insurance Coverage Lapses

npr:

Dr. Mahendra Patel, a pediatric cancer doctor, has begun giving away medications to some of his young patients, determined not to disrupt their treatments for serious illnesses like leukemia. He’s worried Congress will fail to renew funding soon for a health program that pays for the care of millions of children across the country.

In his 35 years of practice, Patel, of San Antonio, has seen the lengths to which parents will go for their critically ill children. He has seen couples divorce just to qualify for Medicaid coverage, something he fears will happen if the Children’s Health Insurance Program is axed. “They are looking at you and begging for their child’s life,” he said.

The months-long failure on Capitol Hill to pass a long-term extension to CHIP, which provides health coverage to 9 million lower-income children, portends serious health consequences for many of them.

About 1.7 million children in 20 states and the District of Columbia could be at risk of losing their CHIP coverage in February because of the funding shortfall, according to a report released Wednesday by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

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The GOP Has Officially Engineered a Children’s Health-Care Crisis

workfornow:

seandotpolitics:

On September 30, federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired. Congressional Republicans claimed that they didn’t want this to happen — they just got so caught up with trying to repeal Obamacare (a.k.a. trying to take health care away from millions of adults) that they forgot to preserve access to basic medical care for 9 million low-income children. Regardless, the public had no need to worry: States had enough money to keep CHIP running for the rest of the year, and Republicans would reauthorize the program with all due haste.

Nearly two months later, congressional Republicans are so caught up with trying to cut taxes on corporations (while taking health care away from millions of adults), they haven’t quite found time to renew CHIP.

In at least 11 states, funds allocated for CHIP will run out by January’s end. A majority of states will be bereft of funds for the program by April. But throughout the country, the program is already in a state of crisis.

On Monday, working-class families in Colorado received lettersencouraging them to look into private insurance options, as their children could soon be tossed off government health care. Several other states will send out similar letters this week.

These missives won’t just be a short-term worry for working families who already have more than enough worries — they also threaten to undermine CHIP in the long-term…

Meanwhile, states are already wasting money and personnel hours on contingency plans for CHIP’s demise. Some have stopped pushing eligible families to sign up for the program, a development that could lead to many more low-income children going without coverage, even if the program gets reauthorized in December: If states don’t spend time and money spreading awareness of the program, many parents will fail to take advantage of it.

And it’s far from certain that CHIP will get funded…

In Texas it’s estimated the 30 days notice that your kids’ coverage will disappear will go out Dec. 22. Merry fucking Christmas.

btw, in case you didn’t know this:

CHIP is a BLOCK GRANT health insurance program.

That means, unlike Medicaid/Medicare which is funded through an “ongoing funding stream,” CHIP’s block grant has to be re-authorized by Congress every few years. Every few years, it runs the risk of becoming a casualty of political wrangling like you see now.

CHIP provides insurance for about 9 million people.

Now, remember the abomination that was Trumpcare and the Republican’s proposal to make Medicaid a block grant program?

Medicaid serves 70 million people. Imagine THAT being in the same situation as CHIP is in right now. The consequences are potentially catastrophic for insurees, state governments, health care systems, etc. Medicaid becomes “too big to fail” as a block grant, making it a huge chip in the Republican bank the next time the want to play chicken with the Democrats around funding social programs.

The GOP Has Officially Engineered a Children’s Health-Care Crisis

States prepare to shut down children’s health programs if Congress doesn’t act

Officials in nearly a dozen states are preparing to notify families that a crucial health insurance program for low-income children is running out of money for the first time since its creation two decades ago, putting coverage for many at risk by the end of the year.

Congress missed a Sept. 30 deadline to extend funding for CHIP, as the Children’s Health Insurance Program is known. Nearly 9 million youngsters and 370,000 pregnant women nationwide receive care because of it.

Many states have enough money to keep their individual programs afloat for at least a few months, but five could run out in late December if lawmakers do not act. Others will start to exhaust resources the following month.

…

Most CHIP families, who earn too much for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance, are not aware lawmakers’ inaction is endangering coverage. They’re about to find out, though. Virginia and several other states are preparing letters to go out as early as Monday warning families their children’s insurance may be taken away.

…

Longtime physician William Rees remembers the years before CHIP’s safety net, when families without coverage would put off bringing a sick child to the doctor until symptoms were so severe they would end up in a hospital emergency room.

“Pediatrics is mostly preventive medicine, it’s so important what we do,” said Rees, who has practiced in Northern Virginia since 1975. “It’s about trying to keep up with routine visits. If (children) don’t have insurance, that often doesn’t happen, so CHIP keeps them in the system and they get their vaccines when they’re due.”

States prepare to shut down children’s health programs if Congress doesn’t act

Time’s up: As CHIP expires unrenewed, Congress blows a chance to save healthcare for 9 million children

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.

…

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.

Time’s up: As CHIP expires unrenewed, Congress blows a chance to save healthcare for 9 million children