States Should Avoid Using CHIP Funds To Insure Adults, Editorial Says

"Well-intended though states and HHS may be" with waivers to use CHIP funds to provide coverage for uninsured adults, states should spend the funds only on children and Congress should act "to make sure that happens," according to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8/20). A General Accounting Office report released Aug. 6 found that HHS' decision to approve a waiver that allows Arizona to use unspent CHIP funds to cover "previously uninsured" low-income adults, including those who do not have children, "is not consistent" with the CHIP program's "statutory objective" to cover uninsured low-income children, and as a result "is not authorized." The report also said that the waiver could prevent the reallocation of unspent federal CHIP funds to other states that have used their allocations, a requirement under federal law (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/8). In response to the report, Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have questioned whether the "administration is thwarting the intent of Congress," the editorial states. According to the editorial, the issue highlights the "desperate need for better mechanisms" to provide health coverage to the uninsured, both "young and old." The editorial concludes: "Congress and the administration must get beyond fighting about where to hold the safety net and find a way to make the net big enough" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8/20).