Fewer Uninsured Children, Less Disparity, and Keeping It That Way
<p>As efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continue to consume Congress, the clock is ticking on federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. In a new post on <em>To the Point</em>, the Commonwealth Fund’s Susan Hayes, Pamela Riley, M.D., David Radley, and Douglas McCarthy<strong> </strong>underscore that coverage gains could be at risk if Congress fails to renew the program’s federal funding, which is set to expire on September 30. </p><p>The authors point out that between 1997, when CHIP was enacted, and 2015, the uninsured rate for children under age 18 fell by more than two-thirds, to 4.5 percent. Disparities in uninsured rates between minority and white children narrowed, too. About 2 million more children had insurance in 2016 than in 2013, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.</p>
<p>“The ACA’s coverage expansions have worked in concert with CHIP to help the nation make progress toward universal coverage for U.S. children, regardless of race or ethnicity,” the authors write. “Failure to reauthorize CHIP now would likely jeopardize those gains.”</p>