Millions Of Kids Might Lose Health Care Because Congress Dropped The Ball

Huffington Post

By: Jeffrey Young

Congress’ failure to renew a program that provides health care to low-income children by year’s end could cause almost 2 million kids to lose their coverage as soon as next month. That’s according to a report published Wednesday by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is jointly run and financed by the federal government and the states, expired nearly two months ago. The program covers about 9 million children in the U.S.

State officials are scrambling to figure out what to do, but are mostly powerless unless Congress does something. Twenty-five states are due to run out of money in January, and nine more during February, according to the Center for Children and Families. That puts health coverage for 1.9 million kids at risk next month and 2.9 million through February.

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