- Health Program for 9 Million Kids Falls Victim to Partisan Squabbling Politico by Jennifer Haberkorn — It's a mess that can happen only in Washington — Everyone in Congress claims to be a champion of children's health. But funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program ran out Sept. 30. And some lawmakers worry it might not be replenished until early next year. It's a mess that can happen only in Washington: Even a bipartisan program that covers 9 million poor and middle-class children is caught up in partisan squabbling, with Republicans and Democrats split over how to pay for renewed funding and placing blame on the other party. But with unified GOP control of the government, voters and the program's enrollees — who are beginning to get notices that money could be running out — could hold Republicans responsible if the program remains in limbo. The nearly three-month funding lapse has raised the profile of a program that's spent most of the year in the shadows of Republican efforts to overhaul the tax code and fund the government. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel this week called for CHIP funding while holding his young son, who just went through heart surgery. So did Alabama's Sen.-elect Doug Jones, who used his victory speech Tuesday night to urge lawmakers to address CHIP before he is seated in Washington.
- Parents Worry Congress Won't Fund the Children's Health Insurance Program NPR by Alison Kodjak — Pennsylvania's CHIP program is forecast to run out of money in February. Though 9 million kids across the U.S. get their health insurance through CHIP, Congress let the program expire Sept. 30. Since then, states have been burning through the cash that remains in their CHIP accounts, and parents, doctors and state officials are wondering whether Congress will save what has traditionally been a popular program with strong bipartisan support. "CHIP is probably one of the most successful government programs we've enacted in the last couple of decades," says Timothy McBride, a professor of health economics at Washington University in St. Louis and chairman of that state's Medicaid oversight committee, which also oversees CHIP.