Congress should renew funding for the successful Child Health Insurance Program in the coming lame duck session — a year in advance to forestall any possible lapses in the crucial service.
Currently, about 60,000 Colorado children and 900 pregnant women rely on CHIP for health coverage, a program that fills a gap for those who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid and not enough for private health plans.
Known in Colorado as Child Health Plan Plus, the program has won bipartisan federal support since its creation in 1997.
It is credited for halving the number of uninsured children in the United States to 7 percent.
The Affordable Care Act was supposed to make it easier for lower-income families to obtain private insurance or access Medicaid. The ACA extended CHIP through 2019 but allocated funding only through September 2015, which is problematic for states that will be budgeting for next fiscal year.
And there is concern that health plans at state exchanges won’t focus on children’s health as successfully as CHIP has done.
The program has been a lifesaver, and Congress needs to ensure the funding does not lapse.
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