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While the rest of the nation took a break to celebrate the holidays, the gears in Washington continued the churn bringing us ever closer to health reform legislation being signed into law. Now our attention turns to the House and Senate conference committee that has not yet been officially appointed but staff is already laying the groundwork for agreement.
One big question the conferees will decide is what will happen to the children and families that rely on the Children's Health Insurance Program. The House bill eliminates CHIP in 2014 and moves the children into Medicaid and the Exchange with a federal subsidy to offset the cost while the Senate would continue CHIP through 2019 (but, currently funds the program only through fiscal year 2015).
David Herszenhorn writes in the NY Times Prescriptions that many children's health advocates are concerned about children losing coverage because it is unaffordable or that the shift from one program to another isn't done in a seamless manner. He quotes Genny Kenney and Allison Cook's report for the Urban Institute "that some children who lose CHIP coverage could fall through the cracks and become uninsured."
CCF's Jocelyn Guyer is also quoted in the Herszenhorn's blog pointing out that we've made remarkable gains in covering kids in recent years and that "it would be a major problem if health reform undercut these gains by shutting CHIP down too abruptly or by moving kids into coverage that isn't as affordable and as well-designed to get them the care they need to develop and grow."
Notably, Herszenhorn's blog also digs deeper into some of the other issues of equal importance to kids, including the fate of the House's efforts to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care. With Medicaid already covering 7 to 8 times as many children as CHIP, it is critical that this program work well for children and their families (as well as the millions of uninsured adults who will be covered by the program under reform) and provide needed access to care. And, of course, an overarching issue for all kids and their families is the affordability of coverage provided through the Exchange.
The conferees will have to resolve these different approaches and many other issues quickly if they are to meet the goal of getting the bill to President Obama in time for his State of the Union address. What do you think they should do?
One big question the conferees will decide is what will happen to the children and families that rely on the Children's Health Insurance Program. The House bill eliminates CHIP in 2014 and moves the children into Medicaid and the Exchange with a federal subsidy to offset the cost while the Senate would continue CHIP through 2019 (but, currently funds the program only through fiscal year 2015).
David Herszenhorn writes in the NY Times Prescriptions that many children's health advocates are concerned about children losing coverage because it is unaffordable or that the shift from one program to another isn't done in a seamless manner. He quotes Genny Kenney and Allison Cook's report for the Urban Institute "that some children who lose CHIP coverage could fall through the cracks and become uninsured."
CCF's Jocelyn Guyer is also quoted in the Herszenhorn's blog pointing out that we've made remarkable gains in covering kids in recent years and that "it would be a major problem if health reform undercut these gains by shutting CHIP down too abruptly or by moving kids into coverage that isn't as affordable and as well-designed to get them the care they need to develop and grow."
Notably, Herszenhorn's blog also digs deeper into some of the other issues of equal importance to kids, including the fate of the House's efforts to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care. With Medicaid already covering 7 to 8 times as many children as CHIP, it is critical that this program work well for children and their families (as well as the millions of uninsured adults who will be covered by the program under reform) and provide needed access to care. And, of course, an overarching issue for all kids and their families is the affordability of coverage provided through the Exchange.
The conferees will have to resolve these different approaches and many other issues quickly if they are to meet the goal of getting the bill to President Obama in time for his State of the Union address. What do you think they should do?
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