Health Care: Here’s How Many New York Kids Are At Risk Because Of Congress

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Nearly 9 million kids across the country rely on health insurance from CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Although it’s not a controversial program, Congress let its funding expire Oct. 1 — and many states may soon tell millions of families that their insurance plans are ending.

Now Congress is fighting about how to fund it, and the representatives from the Hudson Valley are concerned. However, the devil is in the details. Republicans are saying Democrats refuse to vote for necessary funding to pay for the program. Democrats say the GOP is playing its usual shell game over health care.

In New York, 684,625 kids rely on CHIP for health insurance. For technical reasons, the funds didn’t immediately dry up for CHIP when it expired at the end of September, but state officials project that New York will run out of federal money for the program sometime between January and March, according to The Kaiser Family Foundation. Other states will run out sooner.

Kids who would not otherwise be covered under Medicaid are eligible for CHIP. A family of four with an income greater than $33,000, for example, may not be eligible for Medicaid, but state programs will cover children through CHIP. These kids get access to vaccinations, doctors visits, emergency treatment, dental care and more at low or no cost.

(To get news that's important to you and your neighbors, sign up for Patch’s daily newsletter, news alerts and updates.)

Some states may soon start sending notices to families that their insurance will lapse if Congress doesn’t fund the program.

"As a nation that takes care of our children, this is unacceptable," the bipartisan National Governors’ Association said in a statement. “Congress must not wait any longer to renew CHIP and act to stabilize the nation’s health insurance markets."

Many advocates for children and families pleaded with lawmakers not to let the program expire.

“Congress should have acted to extend CHIP funding months ago,” said Kelly Whitener from the Center for Children and Families, a policy outlet at Georgetown University. “States cannot turn their programs off and on like a switch, so absent funding certainty, they've had to make contingency plans to end their CHIP programs.”

In the decades since CHIP was enacted, the uninsured rate among kids has plunged. It covers children, as well as some pregnant women, who fall through the cracks between Medicaid and private insurance.

The Senate pushed a bill forward Wednesday that would extend the program for five years.
A similar attempt in the House has faced more turbulence, as Republicans and Democrats disagree about how to pay for the program.

Rep. John Faso (R-19) said he understands that it is critical for New York’s CHIP program be extended soon to ensure children and families get the health care coverage they need. While there is necessary funding to provide coverage to children throughout the country until December and in New York until March 2018, he said there is a need for the members in the House to work together to reauthorize the program now so that there is certainty for local communities.

"My only concern is that the House version of the funding bill threatens Medicare and Medicaid. It’s not fair to rob Peter to pay Paul on this,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-18). “Kids in the Hudson Valley who get the flu or break a bone should be able to go to the doctor for help – and I don’t think it’s right to deny them care because their folks don’t have a lot of money. I’m a big supporter of CHIP and I was ready to vote for a reauthorization on this weeks ago, and I’m still ready today."

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-17) said she thought the Republican leadership was callous to allow funding for CHIP to expire. Members on both sides of the aisle were working together on an extension until the Republican health care bill gained steam, she said, and then talks stopped and Republicans allowed CHIP funding to lapse. Lowey called on Congress to stay in session until CHIP was reauthorized.

The New York Times reported that New Jersey Democrat Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. said these disagreements mean “more delay and possibly no action in Congress until the end of the year as part of an omnibus appropriations bill.”

Though not a part of Obamacare, CHIP became a victim of the partisan fight over repeal and replace. By the end of September, after all other attempts had faltered, Republicans tried and failed to pass the Graham-Cassidy bill to overhaul Obamacare, and in the process Congress let CHIP expire.

Video: Congress Let A Health Insurance Program Expire That Covers 9M Kids:

Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images

>> Check Out The Hudson Valley Patches' Facebook Pages