Current Events > The damage to children's health insurance is already being done

(+) Yeah! (+)

Right now, a draft of a letter informing thousands of Virginia parents that their kids might lose their health coverage just after the holidays is sitting on Linda Nablos desk. People are going to panic, Nablo, who is the chief deputy director of the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, told me. Its going to cause mass confusion. Its going to be an increase in the lack of trust in government, that government will do what it says it will do. People will lose their managed-care plans. Theyll lose their provider. Its going to cause chaos.

Nablo and her colleagues have drafted the letter because, for more than 50 days, Congress has failed to reauthorize funding for the Childrens Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, a federal-state initiative that covers about nine million lower-income kids. Within weeks, states will start running out of money, leaving them scrambling to patch the holes in their budgets or forced to suspend their programs and drop coverageas Virginia expects it would have to do.
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Hill staffers insist and the states anticipate that Congress will pass new funding for CHIP in the coming weeks. But the situation has left doctors fuming, administrators bewildered, parents frightened, and politicians shocked. Even if no states end up running out of money and no kids end up losing coverage, the dithering has already diverted state resources, degraded state programs, and sapped state coffers, and Congresss dysfunction has pushed the stability of an effective, respected program with bipartisan support into doubt.
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Federal funds for the program expired on September 30, but, caught up with the failed Obamacare repeal process and ongoing tax reform, Congress has thus far failed to act. Republicans in the House have passed a bill raising money for CHIP by shortening the grace period for late premium payments for Obamacare enrollees, something that would cause an estimated 700,000 people to lose coverage. I reject the notion we have to rob Peter to pay Paul, Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan objected on the House floor. Or in this instance, jeopardize the future of Medicare and steal $6 billion from critical prevention programs to pay for childrens healthcare. The House and Senate remain far apart on how to finance it, too.

Policymakers on both sides have promised that the money will be forthcoming, perhaps in a continuing resolution to keep financing the whole of the government due by December 8. The need is not dire or urgent, Representative Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, told The New York Times. The money that is necessary to keep this program going is not in jeopardy. But Congress has struggled to pass simple, uncontroversial legislation for years now. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that eleven states will run out of funds by the end of December, and 32 states by the end of Marchthough those are only estimates, given the unprecedented nature of the funding lapse. We have hope in Congress, Nablo said. We just dont have confidence.
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The policy effects are already being felt in terms of wasted money and diverted personnel hours, state administrators have said. Some states have stopped pushing sign-ups too, something that might depress enrollment in the short and medium term, with lower-income and more disconnected parents not realizing that their kids are eligible. We havent been doing even our regular outreach activities, Stacey Shamblin, West Virginias acting CHIP director, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

If states were to start to send their letters to parentsNablo said Virginia is just days away from that pointthe policy implications would be significant, health analysts have warned. Parents might find themselves confused by the program and less trusting in its soundness.

Republicans in the House have passed a bill raising money for CHIP by shortening the grace period for late premium payments for Obamacare enrollees, something that would cause an estimated 700,000 people to lose coverage

there's people to blame.... blame the democrats.

kingdrake2 posted...

there's people to blame.... blame the democrats.

Ah yes, let's blame the people with the least power.

JE19426 posted...

kingdrake2 posted...

there's people to blame.... blame the democrats.

Ah yes, let's blame the people with the least power.

Blaming the least powerful is a core tenet of conservatism