Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
States Warn Families Of Impending Cuts As CHIP Funding Nears Depletion
Modern Healthcare: End-Of-Year Funding Fight Threatens CHIP, Extenders; Insurers Hopeful For ACA Tax Delays
Earlier this week, Colorado health officials delivered some dire news to tens of thousands of households: funding for Child Health Plan Plus is about to dry up, and with it coverage for children and pregnant women. CHP+ operates under the federal Children's Health Insurance Program and the state relies heavily on federal matching funds to keep operations going. More than 70,000 children and 800 pregnant women are covered by the program. Congress failed to reauthorize CHIP by the Sept. 30 deadline and that's left states like Colorado scrambling. (Luthi, 11/29)
Boston Globe: State Braces For Possible Loss Of Federal Funding For Children’s Health Program
Massachusetts is on track to run out of money in January for a federal program that provides health coverage for 172,000 children in the state unless Congress moves quickly to approve new funding. Without congressional action, Massachusetts is slated to lose $295 million in annual funding, according to state health officials. (Dayal McCluskey, 11/30)
Los Angeles Times: What Happens If Congress Doesn't Fund The Health Insurance Used By Almost 2 Million Kids And Pregnant Women In California?
Unless Congress comes to an agreement fast, federal funding for a program that provides health insurance to 2 million California children and pregnant women will run out around the end of the year. After that, California could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars because the state is required to offer the insurance even if the federal funds don’t show up. (Wire, 11/29)
Columbus Dispatch: Two Months Expired, Children's Health Insurance Awaits Approval In A Congress Mired In Fighting
The federal program that provides health insurance to nearly 9 million low income children — including 219,000 in Ohio — expired two months ago, and states are beginning to panic that they’ll have to cut services to vulnerable families beginning early next year. Nearly half of all states — including Ohio — will have run out of their 2017 federal allotment for the nearly $15 billion Children’s Health Insurance Program by the end of December, according to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, a nonpartisan legislative agency that provides information and analyses on Medicaid and the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program. (Wehrman, 11/29)
Dallas Morning News: Texas Confident In Additional Federal Funding To Extend CHIP Through February
Texas officials got good news Wednesday: They may not have to send out health insurance cancellation letters to nearly half a million kids three days before Christmas. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday signaled it’s very likely to give Texas enough additional money to keep its Children’s Health Insurance Program running through February, according to a spokeswoman for the state’s CHIP program. (Wang, 11/29)
