BUDGET/HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA)/POLITICS: “As Congress struggles to reauthorize the broadly popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, states are increasingly concerned lawmakers won’t act quickly enough to help them avoid budget shortfalls and possibly a shutdown of some state programs by year’s end.
House and Senate committees both approved packages Wednesday [10-4-17] to renew spending on CHIP, days after Congress allowed the funding to expire over the weekend. CHIP, which serves nearly nine million low-income children whose parents make too much to qualify for Medicaid, cost the federal government $16 billion in 2016.
Republicans in the House, however, attached several measures that would cut into the Affordable Care Act, and people familiar with the talks said that could complicate negotiations and delay a final deal. The sticking points, including a proposed cut to an ACA public health fund, are contentious enough that aides say they could take months to resolve.
State officials are caught in the middle. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey of state CHIP directors found that 10 states anticipate exhausting their existing federal funding by December.
Several states have drawn up contingency plans that involve capping enrollment and possibly taking steps to shut down their programs should funding not come through in time.”
-Michelle Hackman, “States Worry Federal Funding for Children’s Health Program Won’t Come in Time,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 4, 2017 08:28pm