August 15, 2015
By Sarah Ferris
States are shifting dollars they once spent on children’s health into roadways and tax cuts, raising fears for advocates that important healthcare programs could lose their funding.
Kansas, Indiana and California are among the states looking to relocate money away from their Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) as the federal government begins picking up more of the tab this year.
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“I do think it’s a missed opportunity if they don’t reinvest it in kids,” said Elisabeth Wright Burak, who studies CHIP policy for the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF).
“A lot of state advocates are saying we need to keep this money in the system for kids,” added Burak, who spent several years expanding CHIP in Arkansas. “State advocates are absolutely making this case, especially for states that didn’t initially budget for it.”
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