WGBH News
By: Emily Judem
A brightly decorated Christmas tree blinks in one corner of the children’s playroom, and in front of it, Samuel and Gabriella Diaz are sitting on the floor, surrounded by a colorful array of toys. Two-year-old Gabriella, dressed in pink flannel penguin pajamas, squeals happily as she pulls a wooden duck on wheels behind her. Her older brother Samuel, who is five, carefully guides a plastic Spiderman through the air.
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And even if Congress does eventually refund the program, this level of uncertainty, which has now plagued states and program recipients for nearly three months, can have a negative impact on state enrollment and on the programs themselves, says Tricia Brooks, a senior fellow at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. “Even getting a notice [saying that coverage might end] that’s rescinded later can have a chilling effect on enrollment,” she said. “Now 95 percent of children in this country have health coverage. I don’t want to see us do a U-turn on that, but I’m afraid that if Congress doesn’t act by the end of the year, that indeed we’re going to see those gains slipping.”
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