Congress keeps funding for children's insurance program in limbo

The state’s popular children’s health insurance program remains in limbo in Congress, and that’s starting to make Alabama officials sweat.

Congress missed an Sept. 30 deadline to renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides coverage to about 150,000 Alabama children, split between the Alabama Department of Public health — which runs the program as ALL Kids — and the Alabama Medicaid Agency.

Without renewal, children in the program could lose their coverage early next year.

“We’re still holding on desperately, hoping Congress will act,” said Cathy Caldwell, director of ADPH’s Bureau of Children’s Health Insurance, which oversees ALL Kids.

The program has sufficient money to go through “February or March,” Caldwell said Monday. The department at first thought it might have to send out letters alerting participants to the end of the program in November. Caldwell said that will not happen, though they are developing a timeline to address the situation.

“We’re hearing from some families, mainly just anxiety about what’s going on,” Caldwell said. “We’ve heard from fewer than I would expect. Which is stressful because if we do have to take action, like disenrolling kids, I’m afraid it will come as a surprise to families.”

CHIP provides insurance for children up to age 19 whose households make up to 312 percent of the poverty line — up to $50,688 a year for a household of two, and up to $63,710 for a household of three. Qualifying families pay premiums — ranging from $52 to $104 per child per year, depending on income — as well as co-pays. ALL Kids covers about 83,000 children, while another 70,000 fall under Alabama Medicaid.

The program covers about 9 million children in the United States and has been credited with a steep decline in the number of uninsured children in the county. The program has been particularly successful in Alabama. A 2014 study credited CHIP with an 18 percent reduction in the number of uninsured children in Alabama between 2011 and 2014.

Renewal bills have to this point stalled in Congress, chiefly over disagreements about funding. A House version of the bill tried to fund renewal of CHIP and community center funding by increasing premiums on Medicare recipients making $500,000 a year and transferring money out of prevention and public health reserves.

Alabama’s congressional representatives have broadly expressed support for CHIP renewal though said less about the details of how to do it.

Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones has pressed for renewal of the program. Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore said last month he will seek “patient-centered health care solutions” last month, but stopped short of committing to CHIP renewal, saying he wanted to talk with colleagues “to understand the consequences and ramifications” of such a measure.