The Daily Progress

By: Ruth Serven

Virginia will be able to squeak funding for children’s health care and insurance through February, but experts and legislators are pleading for a permanent funding solution.

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On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office scored the Senate version of the bill, and said it would probably cost $800 million overall — much cheaper than a previously projected $8 billion, as children shift health care from CHIP and to ACA marketplaces. That lower price tag should remove any cost objections to reauthorizing CHIP, said Kelly Whitener, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families and former director of state coverage programs at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CHIP works, Whitener said, and shouldn’t be held hostage for budgetary or political reasons.

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