Without CHIP funding, 1.7 million kids could lose healthcare in weeks

January 21, 2018

MorrisAdmin,

A pediatrician examines an infant’s ear in Takoma Park, Maryland, on April 8, 2015. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Federal funding for CHIP officially expired on Sept. 30 of last year. As states began to run out of money — with 16 states initially preparing to burn up the last of their federally allotted cash by the end of this month — Congress passed a continuing resolution in December that provided states $2.85 billion. But that short-term cash will fizzle out soon, leaving millions of kids across the country without healthcare.

The loss of the program is expected to be costly for families as well as the federal government.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, reauthorizing CHIP would be a thrifty move for the government, especially after the new tax plan removed the individual mandate from the ACA.

The

CBO score released last week concluded that the KIDS Act, which is included in the House-passed short-term spending bill, would cost the government a total of $800 million over the next five years.

A 10-year extension, however, would actually lead to the government saving money “because the federal costs of the alternatives to providing coverage through CHIP (primarily Medicaid, subsidizing coverage in the marketplaces, and employment-based insurance) are larger than the costs of providing coverage through CHIP during that period,” the report said. It would also allow states to take greater control of the costs associated with CHIP down the line.

Whatever deal is made, Democrats aren’t expected to be held responsible if the child’s healthcare program goes unfunded.

“Congressional leadership will have a hard time convincing people that Democrats are to blame when Republicans are in control of Congress,” said Alker.

“It would have been responsible to do this a year ago,” she added. “And that wasn’t a secret then.”

The decision to put off CHIP could prove to be quite costly for the GOP in the 2018 midterm elections, which creep ever closer.

November Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that a whopping 62 percent of people believe that reauthorizing CHIP funding should be the top legislative priority for President Trump and Congress in the coming months, beating out stabilizing Obamacare, tax reform or creating new immigration policies.

“It’s so crazy,” Alker said. “I never thought we would get to this point. And now with the specter of a government shutdown looming: that just adds another layer of uncertainty.”