Alabama to stop enrolling kids in state CHIP program if federal funding isn’t restored - Entrepreneur Generations

Alabama has become the first state to announce that it will freeze enrollment for its state Children's Health Insurance Program if federal funding is not restored soon. State officials say the Alabama CHIP program will freeze enrollment on Jan. 1 and will close its program by Jan. 31, Jessie Hellman reports for The Hill. Nationwide, the CHIP program covers nearly 9 million low- and mid-income children whose parents can't afford private health insurance, but who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

CHIP funding lapsed on Sept. 30 and hasn't yet been renewed by Congress. Some states (Minnesota and Arizona) have already run out of money for their programs, more (like Oregon and California) will run out in the coming weeks, most will run out by March and all 50 states and the District of Columbia will run out by June. House lawmakers, led by Republicans Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania, arranged a stopgap measure to let states apply any surplus from last year's CHIP program to fund their programs through the end of the year, Susan Luthi reports for Modern Healthcare.

The surplus funds, redistributed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, have allowed a few states to keep their programs limping for a while, though there is some confusion because CMS hasn't set out clear guidelines for how it will distribute those funds. Texas was going to run out of CHIP funds in February, but will get an extra $135 million in redistributed funds from CMS. They had asked for $90 million, Luthi reports.

But even the redistributed funds won't be enough to keep the programs open indefinitely without renewed federal funding. Connecticut and Colorado will shut down their programs Jan. 31 if funding doesn't come through and will shift CHIP kids to Medicaid or private insurance from the health exchange. The end of CHIP programs would qualify children for a special insurance enrollment period. Virginia and Colorado have sent out letters telling beneficiaries that their coverage is at risk. Both states have allowed children to keep enrolling up until the termination date, Quinn Libson reports for Route Fifty.

A Politico map shows when each state is expected to run out of money; click the image to enlarge it.

If Alabama freezes enrollment in its CHIP program, it won't be the first time a state has done so. Arizona did it in 2009 during the recession, in what researchers from Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families call a "cautionary tale." It saved the state $12.9 million in fiscal year 2011, but there were down sides: 14,000 children lost medical coverage completely, and "by July 2011, the waiting list for that program had swelled to include more than 100,000 kids. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the waiting list continued to grow at a rate of 10,000 kids every month." The state also lost $41 million in federal matching funds.

The CHIP program has traditionally had strong bipartisan support, so why hasn't it been renewed? At heart is a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over how to pay for it. In a nutshell, the Republicans want states to assume an increasing amount of the cost of the program, if not all, eventually. Voting on CHIP has also been delayed because Republicans devoted most of their recent attention to trying to pass health care reform, and now are focused on trying to pass a tax overhaul bill. "House Republicans released a spending bill last week that would fund CHIP for five years, but would pay for it with cuts that Democrats don't support," Hellman reports. "Because Republicans have such a slim majority in the Senate, Democratic support is needed for the bill."

Congress now has four working days to reauthorize CHIP before the end of the working year. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said last week that Congress would pass a long-term CHIP bill this week, Hellman reports. That could mean funding is attached to the appropriations bill, which Congress will most likely only consider after trying to get their tax overhaul bill passed.


from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2kmn7pI Alabama to stop enrolling kids in state CHIP program if federal funding isn’t restored - Entrepreneur Generations

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