2M children would lose coverage without CHIP funding

Almost 2 million children would lose health insurance if Congress does not extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and if the Supreme Court rules against ObamaCare subsidies, according to a new report. 

{mosads}The report from the Urban Institute examines the effect on children’s health coverage under different scenarios.

Federal CHIP funding will expire at the end of September if Congress does not extend it, and the Supreme Court is weighing a challenge to ObamaCare subsidies in the roughly three-dozen states using federally run insurance marketplaces.

Without CHIP, the study finds, 1.1 million children would become uninsured, raising the uninsured rate for children from 3.6 to 5.1 percent. If the Supreme Court also strikes down ObamaCare subsidies, then a total of 1.9 million children would lose insurance, bringing the uninsured rate up to 6 percent.

“Health insurance coverage for low- and moderate-income children is at risk right now,” the report states.

CHIP funding could be extended for two years as part of the “doc fix,” a $200 billion Medicare deal that eliminates automatic cuts in doctor payments, though Democrats have been pushing for a four-year extension.

The report also looks at the stakes of Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare. If CHIP expired, subsidies were struck down, and Medicaid expansion was eliminated in every state, 3.3 million children would lose insurance.