Health funding stuck in Congress: Local, state programs brace for impact if there’s no legislative fix
Specifically,
"This is a big deal to
Federal funding for both programs ran out at the end of September. The
The advocacy nonprofit FamiliesUSA on Friday urged
In the meantime, administrators at the state and local levels have been scrambling to meet immediate or potential shortfalls.
"We call it the funding cliff, and we fell over the cliff," Patterson said.
The health center she leads, which has clinics in
Combined, losing federal funding means losing
The funding year starts on different dates for different centers, Watson said. In
The uncertainty already is affecting decision-making, Patterson said.
"Trying to make decisions about do you fill open positions and potential expansion and wage increases and all the kinds of things that you typically do in running any kind of nonprofit or for-profit organization," she said. "We're operating on tiny, tiny margins."
The potential impact is greater on centers that have been more dependent on federal funding, Watson said.
"Of those 70 sites, I would project at least eight to 10 of those sites would shut their doors," he said. "There's no way they could survive that kind of cut. And I would venture to guess that the majority of those eight to 10 sites is going to be in greater
Meanwhile,
The upshot for those 125,000 children is not that they lose coverage but that the federal government covers 50 percent of their care instead of 88 percent. Making up the difference will cost
"It is impossible for the federal government to force enormous funding losses and create extraordinary uncertainty in our state and assume that no one will be harmed," Piper wrote. "These cuts target programs that serve some of the lowest-income, most vulnerable
In
Created as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, CHIP serves 9 million children nationwide, according to FamiliesUSA, which reports the program has never gone unfunded before. If
Some states appear to be particularly hard up.
CHIP and community health program monies have been stuck in
Just last week, the
"It just really demonstrates ... the bipartisan support that these programs have had," Watson said. "And why is that? Because they work. ... This seems like a really easy win for a
___
(c)2017 the Duluth News Tribune (Duluth, Minn.)
Visit the Duluth News Tribune (Duluth, Minn.) at www.duluthnewstribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
With health insurance claims down, Premera gives $25 million to the state
School system working to mitigate $634 million liability for retiree benefits
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News