Patch

By Don Johnson

Nearly 9 million kids across the country rely on health insurance from CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Although it’s not a controversial program, Congress let its funding expire Oct. 1 — and many states may soon tell millions of families that their insurance plans are ending. In Texas, 1.1 million kids rely on CHIP for health insurance.

….

“Congress should have acted to extend CHIP funding months ago,” said Kelly Whitener from the Center for Children and Families, a policy outlet at Georgetown University. “States cannot turn their programs off and on like a switch, so absent funding certainty, they’ve had to make contingency plans to end their CHIP programs.”

Read more here.