Senate Dems seek end to CHIP funding fight

Senate Democrats are launching a partisan push to end the funding battle over the federal government’s child healthcare program, which is set to expire in the fall.

All of the chamber’s Democrats are signed on as co-sponsors to a bill that would extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through 2019. It is the Senate’s first piece of legislation this session to extend CHIP and was introduced the same day as a companion bill in the House.

“We can’t turn our backs on health coverage that allows children to grow into healthy, active adults,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who sponsored the legislation, said Thursday in a statement.

“We need to come together right away to ensure these critical health services are not eliminated. Children and parents across America are counting on us,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), a co-sponsor of the bill, added.

Congress has come under pressure from nearly 40 governors from both parties who recently wrote a letter urging a renewal of CHIP funding.

The 18-year-old program provides coverage to about 10 million children and once had bipartisan support. But it has generated controversy recently because some Republicans believe the costly program overlaps with new benefits under the Affordable Care Act.

Some lawmakers argue that new subsidies and expanded eligibility under Medicaid should mean CHIP is no longer needed. But Democrats have argued that the program is still needed, partly because nearly half of the states have yet to expand Medicaid.

As many as 2.7 million children could fall into an insurance gap if CHIP expires, according to one report.

March of Dimes, a child’s health advocacy group, quickly cheered the bill’s introduction.  

“CHIP is a national success story — a program that has not only met but exceeded its ambitious goals of providing affordable and comprehensive health coverage for children and pregnant women,” Dr. Jennifer Howse, the group’s president, wrote in a statement.