The Register-Herald

By: Wendy Holdren

With federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) set to expire Sept. 30, health care policy experts at the Children’s Health Policy Summit shared Thursday the importance of renewing the program, especially for children in West Virginia.

Of the 97 percent of children in West Virginia who are insured, more than half (53 percent) are insured by Medicaid or CHIP.

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Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families (CCF) and research professor at the Georgetown University, said she believes CHIP will be renewed, but not before its expiration date.
“I’m a lot less optimistic because of this deal moving forward with debt relief,” Alker said.
She said the current plan, a three-month extension to keep the government running, does not include CHIP. Likely, the measure to fund children’s health insurance would have to run as a standalone bill.
Alker said CHIP does have strong bipartisan support, but the next questions are — how long is the extension? What is the match rate? What happens with the maintenance of effort (meaning states can’t lower income eligibility rates through 2019)?
“This is no way to run a program,” Alker said. “Children’s coverage is not something that should be gambled with. We need to really raise our voices.”

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