Officials in several States are preparing to tell families that the children’s program health insurance CHIP may be terminated for the first time since its inception twenty years ago.
The fact that Congress missed the deadline on 30 September, to extend funding for CHIP.
According to The Washington Post, the program covers treatment of almost 9 million children and about 370 thousand pregnant women throughout the country.
The part of the States sufficient funds to maintain the program for a few months, but some begin to exhaust the resources already in December.
«We are very concerned that Congress not demonstrated the ability to gather at the crucial moment and make the really important thing,» says Bruce Lesley, President of the Washington organization for the protection of children and families. «And the administration of the President also did not say a word on this issue. As he decides, in fact it is unclear because States are already close to the deadline».
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which govern the program at the Federal level, said: States, forced to stop the program, you must determine whether the «CHIP-children» to be eligible for the program, Medicaid, or their family will have to find an alternative insurance option.
Doctor William Rees, working in Virginia since 1975, recalls that before the advent of insurance CHIP family sometimes do not go to the doctor until the child’s symptoms became so severe that the children were brought to the Department of emergency.
According to Georgetown University for children and families, Arizona, California, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, and D.C. will run out of funds for CHIP by December 31 or early January.
In Virginia, if nothing changes, this will happen by the end of January, as in Texas. In Texas the problem with funding is complicated by the fact that the state suffered seriously from hurricane Harvey. In West Virginia tools state on a CHIP is expected to be finished in March.
When Congress approved the extension of funding, CMS has allocated to the several States about 542 million dollars, but this is not enough to provide long-term assistance.
