CHIP Reauthorization in Congressional Committees Sees Mixed Results
There were mixed results yesterday in Congress as Senate and House committees considered bills reauthorizing funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The program provided healthcare coverage to 8.9 million children in low-income families in fiscal year 2016.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee passed a bill reauthorizing CHIP funding for another five years. The Keep Kids Insurance Dependable and Secure (KIDS) Act of 2017 was approved without any amendments, but that could change when the bill comes to the Senate floor. According to The Hill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Shumer (D-NY) has suggested that the CHIP reauthorization be combined with changes to the ACA to help stabilize insurance markets.
A bipartisan approach to stabilize insurance markets in 2018 and provide states with greater flexibility to address healthcare issues was started by the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions last month, with four days of public hearings. Negotiations stalled during the last-ditch effort by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace the ACA with the Graham-Cassidy bill. With that effort failing, the committee has restarted discussions, but progress appears to be slow.
Finance Committee chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) would like the CHIP reauthorization bill to pass through the Senate quickly. “Extending funding for CHIP has been a top priority of this committee, and I am pleased to see the Committee advance this policy today,” he said in a press release issued yesterday.
Ranking Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) added, “Congress must get a CHIP bill to the president’s desk as soon as possible – every day that goes by without action means more harmful consequences for families and states.”
Meanwhile, in the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, Republican and Democrats argued over how to fund the CHIP reauthorization. A bill supported by Republicans, The Healthy Kids Act, would, among other things, ask older Americans with incomes greater than $500,000 to pay higher Medicare premiums to finance the program, which Democrats oppose.
Time is of the essence because Congress failed to reauthorize the program before it expired on September 30.
Failure to reauthorize CHIP is a potential calamity for many states that count on the federal funding. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 10 states may exhaust CHIP funds by the end of 2017, and 32 states project running out of funds by March 2018. As states run out of federal funds, some may take action to freeze enrollment or end coverage, which would lead to coverage losses for children.
To see a comparison of the Senate and House legislation by the Kaiser Family Foundation, click here.
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