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Source: 30dB.com – Congress-and-CHIP
The program has mostly enjoyed broad, bipartisan support, and the Los Angeles Times notes it’s helped drop the uninsured rate among children under 18 to 5 percent from 14 percent at its inception. But even that wasn’t enough to prevent a totally avoidable situation as Congress failed to reauthorize CHIP by a Saturday deadline, throwing the program’s future—and the future of 8.9 million enrollees—into chaos. The missed deadline is partially due to Congress’s preoccupation with repealing and replacing Obamacare, which distracted legislators from coming up with a new CHIP budget independent of other healthcare measures. The federal government subsidizes the states, which also contribute funds, to make CHIP work, and some states are going to be hit harder than others if it isn’t reauthorized soon. “The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 10 states would run out money by the end of the year,” says The Hill. The Senate is working on a standalone CHIP bill, but there’s no indication the House is on the same page. Time is running out, and Social isn’t happy about it. Over the last three days, “Congress + CHIP” has an abysmal 11 percent positive score on Social. –Alex Shultz
Republished from 30dB