Known as CHIP at the federal level, the health insurance program covers about 9 million kids nationwide in low- to moderate-income households.
Congressional authorization for the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost health insurance for children from low- and middle-income families, expired September 30. "Good stewardship has created a reserve in funding, so health care coverage for 160,000 children and youth in Alabama, who benefit from CHIP, will continue at least through February", Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar said this week.
If Congress doesn't act, I think we do run the risk of facing coverage losses for children in Montana. Without the federal funding, it will fall on the state's Health and Human Services Commission (an agency which is now in "disarray") to fix the problem - or risk leaving one million kids uninsured.
Like Medicaid, CHIP runs off a combination of federal and state funding, with the former contributing around $14 billion per year.
CHIP allotted $25.5 billion in coverage nationwide from 2015 to 2016, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, insuring children who do not qualify for Medicaid but in families that can not afford private insurance.
Eric Whitney: And kids qualify for CHIP based on their family income, right?
"I'd hate to see any kids lose their coverage", Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark said.
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The House Energy and Commerce Committee posted its bill just before midnight Monday. "The ones that are on Medicaid, we'd have to figure out something if CHIP goes away". Children in states that shut down the program will either shift to employer-sponsored or subsidized exchange coverage - or become uninsured. The rest are part of the state's Medicaid expansion effort.
If CHIP is so popular among Republicans and Democrats, why hasn't Congress renewed the program yet?
Lawmakers in the spring held back $93 million in reserve for the 2019 budget.
Arizona dropped KidsCare in 2014, briefly making it the only state in the nation with a version of CHIP. "This important legislation will ensure the vulnerable children and their families who depend on CHIP receive much-needed certainty by guaranteeing uninterrupted funding for the program, which has been a top priority of this committee", Sen. Is this sort of a no-brainer that both parties are going to continue funding CHIP, or what makes you think that the funding might be in jeopardy. But Governor Holcomb says Congress needs to renew the program so all states can have the stability of knowing their residents will be covered.
"We have not sent out any notices (to participating families)", Caldwell said. They imposed a freeze on enrollment, though those already in the program could remain as long as their families remained eligible. Many families in my district and across Alabama rely on CHIP to cover their children's checkups, immunizations, emergency care and more.
Garcia said her organization has been working with advocates at the national level to push for a renewal from Congress.
"It's tantamount to Mother Nature's atomic bomb, and we're doing very little", said Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, asking her colleagues to expedite aid to the USA territory last week. Ron Wyden of OR, announced an agreement in mid-September to renew CHIP funding.
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