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States prepare to shut down children's health programs if Congress doesn't act

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
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States prepare to shut down children's health programs if Congress doesn't act

Colby Itkowitz and Sandhya Somashekhar
Published by The Washington Post
Thursday, November 23, 2017

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Officials in nearly a dozen states are preparing to notify families that a crucial health insurance program for low-income children is running out of money for the first time since its creation two decades ago, putting coverage for many at risk by the end of the year. Congress missed a Sept. 30 deadline to extend funding for CHIP, as the Children's Health Insurance Program is known. Nearly 9 million youngsters and 370,000 pregnant women nationwide receive care because of it. "We are very concerned, and the reason is that Congress hasn't shown a strong ability to get stuff done," said Bruce Lesley, president of Washington, D.C.-based First Focus, a child and family advocacy organization. "And the administration is completely out, has not even uttered a syllable on the issue. How this gets resolved is really unclear, and states are beginning to hit deadlines."

The uncertainty has states scrambling. Arizona, California, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon and the District of Columbia will run out of CHIP money by Dec. 31, according to Georgetown University's Center on Children and Families. At least six more plan to take some sort of action to address the potential funding loss, including notifying parents their children are at risk of losing coverage. The program, which is credited with helping to bring the rate of uninsured children to a record low of 4.5 percent, has been reauthorized several times over the years. And under the ACA, the federal government sharply boosted its match rate. It now provides 88 percent or more of every state's CHIP costs. Congress has been unable to agree on how to pay for the $15 billion program moving forward, however. President Donald Trump's 2018 budget proposed to cut billions from CHIP over two years and limit eligibility for federal matching funds.
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The Trump/GOP government can budget $600 billion for the military, a $54 billion increase, but cannot allocate the $15 billion that provides 9 million American children with CHIP healthcare insurance.

SAD
 
You know that estate tax that barely affects anybody, but Republicans seem hellbent on trying to repeal? It raises around 19+ billion a year. It looks like there is a very easy way to fund CHIP.
 
Rogue Valley said:
States prepare to shut down children's health programs if Congress doesn't act



The Trump/GOP government can budget $600 billion for the military, a $54 billion increase, but cannot allocate the $15 billion that provides 9 million American children with CHIP healthcare insurance.

SAD
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Sad?

You mean this emotional appeal "What about the children?" is Trump's fault?

Yep Congress needs to act, because THAT's where budget decisions are supposed to be funded from.

Let's look at the history:

At its creation in 1997, SCHIP was the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S. since[citation needed] Lyndon Johnson established Medicaid in 1965.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Health_Insurance_Program

That's decades after MY childhood before this program was available, and I was born years before Medicaid was created in 1965.

I wonder how I and millions of other kids survived without government health insurance all those years.

Oh yeah, you paid as you went with doctors treating you for only what ailed you and didn't push expensive drugs and treatments you could not afford.

Now, I am not opposed to health coverage; times do change. :yes:

But if you want it then make up your minds.

Is it going to be a government single-payer program, or left to the free market like back when I was a kid. Because either of those is preferable to this hodgepodge ACA that benefits Big Pharma, the AMA, and the Insurance industry.

I don't mind either option.
 
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MrPeanut said:
You know that estate tax that barely affects anybody, but Republicans seem hellbent on trying to repeal? It raises around 19+ billion a year. It looks like there is a very easy way to fund CHIP.
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A GOP tax-reform legislative win is far more important than mundane needy/sick children.
 
Make Billionaires Great Again ..................
 
MrPeanut said:
You know that estate tax that barely affects anybody, but Republicans seem hellbent on trying to repeal? It raises around 19+ billion a year. It looks like there is a very easy way to fund CHIP.
Click to expand...

Why not the homeless ?
 
This pathetic display is what it looks like when you've got a president and Congress that don't know how to govern. Elect amateurs and idiots, get zero results.
 
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