Campaign Action
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has apparently decided that it looks bad to the conservative base that is dramatically turning on him that he's not getting stuff done. So his answer is to start making the Senate be there on Fridays, and maybe some weekends. That means that "this week’s schedule is likely to bleed into Friday to complete the budget, and Republicans expect the trend to continue deep into the fall."
By "completing the budget," they mean passing the vehicle that will allow them to give tax cuts to already obscenely wealthy people. No indication at all that McConnell intends to take up and pass funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program—which expired 18 days ago—and be ready to send it to the House when they return next week.
Every day that passes makes the situation more fraught for states because they have key decisions to make about how—or whether—to try to continue to provide coverage without federal funds.
States are bumping up against deadlines to make program changes since it takes time to implement changes and notify families. States need sufficient time to notify families and other stakeholders of changes in coverage, make changes to eligibility systems, and train eligibility workers. They also must update contracts with managed care plans and third party administrators, conduct Tribal consultation as necessary, and submit necessary state plan amendments to CMS. Thus, as states grow closer to exhausting federal funds, they may begin taking action to implement changes. There also is the potential for significant confusion among families and wasted spending and administrative efforts for states if they begin to implement changes and then Congress later takes action to extend funding, causing states to reverse course.
Yes, states have all those hurdles to clear and all that work to do. They've already adopted budgets that assumed the funding would be there. But what Republicans are doing most fundamentally is threatening children and their families. It's simply the children.
Reductions in CHIP coverage would result in coverage losses for children and negative effects on children's health and finances. If states close enrollment and/or discontinue coverage for children in separate CHIP programs, some children could shift to parents' employer-sponsored plans or Marketplace plans, where they would likely have higher out-of-pocket costs and more limited benefits, and some children may be transitioned to Medicaid, but others would become uninsured. Previously, when some states closed enrollment in CHIP for limited periods in response to state budget pressures, studies showed that these enrollment caps and freezes led to coverage losses, left eligible individuals without access to coverage, and had negative effects on children's health and family finances, including delayed care, difficulty obtaining medications, and significant financial hardships and medical debt.
It goes without saying that any family that relies on CHIP for funding isn't going to be getting any of those Trump tax cuts. So those families aren't even on Republicans' radar.