9 million kids get insurance through CHIP. Congress is about to let its funding expire.
On September 30, funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program expires. After Republicans took a rushed and ultimately failed run at repealing Obamacare one last time, the program’s spending authorization is now at imminent risk of lapsing.
For technical reasons, the money wouldn't just run out on October 1. But nevertheless, advocates are furious that Congress let the deadline get this close without acting.
"This is ridiculous. It’s already too late," Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, told reporters at a briefing earlier this month. "We have never had a situation like this before."
CHIP is a health insurance program created in the 1990s to piggyback on Medicaid and it provides coverage for kids in families with higher, though still lower-middle-class to middle-class, incomes. The program also helps cover pregnant women in some states. It is designed much like Medicaid, with states and the federal government both paying a share of its budget.
About 9 million children across the country get coverage through CHIP, and it costs about $14 billion a year (the feds pick up about three-quarters of that bill). It is a smaller program than Medicaid and Medicare, but it is still a big reason why America has nearly eliminated uninsurance among kids.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/27/16373494/chip-funding-reauthorization-congress
