RALEIGH — North Carolina’s Children’s Health Insurance Program covers 200,000 children statewide, but it relies in part on federal funding that expired in the fall. The state’s Department of Health and Human Services has asked Congress to renew funding, but claims there is no danger for CHIP participants.
CHIP is designed to assist families trapped between two income brackets — that is, families that make too much to receive Medicaid but too little to afford personal insurance. Federal funding for CHIP expired on September 30. Like many states, North Carolina has its own state funding, but – like most states – that funding will run out at the end of the year or early next year.
Some states, like Colorado, have already sent notices to families at risk of losing coverage for their children. Officials in Virginia are currently drafting a similar letter. North Carolina has not done either.
Kelly Haight, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said North Carolina had sufficient funding to continue services, and that “North Carolina families will not experience any interruption of benefits at this time.”
Haight reiterated DHHS’s statement, calling on Congress to renew funding.
“CHIP provides health and dental care to over 200,000 children each month across the state. Congress should act now to reauthorize this critical program for North Carolina’s working families,” Haight wrote, adding that failure to do so could cause interruption of service “in the coming months.”
Haight referenced a recent study on “state planning for the future of CHIP,” published by the Kaiser Family Foundation to indicate that North Carolina has not yet exhausted federal funding.
However, according to that study, North Carolina is one of 21 states (and the District of Columbia) that will exhaust their federal funding in the first quarter of 2018.
The study goes on to suggest some of the negative impacts of a funding shortfall, including an enrollment freeze: North Carolina saw a 30% enrollment decrease – from 72,000 to 51,300 – during a freeze that lasted most of 2001. During that time, over 34,000 children ended up on a waiting list.
The study also found that “parents often had to delay care while their children were uninsured and reported difficulties obtaining prescription medications for their children.”
Parents who did obtain care for their uninsured children suffered “significant financial hardships, requiring them to cut back on necessities, borrow money from family or friends, and accrue debt for missed payments on bills,” the study concluded.
Haight did not answer questions on what – if anything – DHHS’s contingency plan for a funding shortfall would be or if the state would, like neighboring Virginia, send out notices of potential coverage suspensions or enrollment freezes.
Send comments and tips to Benjamin Schachtman at [email protected], @pcdben on Twitter, and (910) 538-2001.
