Children’s Health Insurance merits speedy OK in Congress

Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country’s children. Specifically, now is the time for all good U.S. representatives and senators to come to the aid of millions of American youth by extending a successful 18-year-old program that provides critically needed health insurance to 130,000 Ohio children, including more than 6,000 in the Mahoning Valley.

Bills to extend and expand that life saver — the Children’s Health Insurance Program — have been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate but unfortunately have stalled at the starting gate. If not approved fairly soon, at least 10 million American children will lose insurance and access to vital health care come September.

Responsible legislators of all political stripes must not permit such a tragedy to play out.

ABOUT CHIP

As a matter of fact, CHIP was born out of political cooperation and compromise in 1997 under Democrat President Bill Clinton and a Republican-majority Congress. It was part of then first lady Hillary Clinton’s largely unsuccessful campaign to craft and enact more expansive health-care and insurance reforms.

In short, CHIP provides funding for families that make too much money to be covered by Medicaid but that cannot afford private insurance. That safety net funds 10 essential health services that include pediatric dental and vision care, mental health and substance abuse services, emergency services, maternity and newborn care.

With so much going for it, then, nothing should logically stand in the way of a speedy extension of funding for CHIP. But those remotely familiar with the inner workings on Capitol Hill today realize Congress itself simply is neither working nor logical.

Though some argue otherwise, signs already point to a partisan divide on CHIP. Of the more than 90 sponsors and co-sponsors of the Senate’s Protecting & Retaining Our Children’s Health Insurance Program Act of 2015 and the companion CHIP Extension and Improvement Act of 2015 in the House, not a one is a Republican.

Perhaps some are confusing CHIP with the hyper-controversial Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare. It is indeed unreasonable to toss any of the acid in the debate over Obamacare onto CHIP.

For example, under the ACA, employers need to provide insurance for workers but not workers’ families. As a result, the so-called “family glitch” leaves millions of children uncovered.

NEED FOR SPEED

Perhaps some otherwise compassionate legislators do not recognize the urgency of speedy action. Ohio, like other states, is in the midst of debating and crafting its principal spending bill for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Republican Gov. John Kasich joined 39 other governors in calling on Congress to to reauthorize CHIP funding so state budgets could pick up the slack if so needed. But time’s a wasting. Ohio’s biennial budget must be finalized and adopted by late June.

There is nonetheless hope that time frame can be met. Two of the most unlikely political bedfellows — Democrat Hillary Clinton, a possible candidate for president next year, and former conservative Republican Senate leader Bill Frist — joined forces to pen a recent New York Times op-ed column. In it they wrote, “Reauthorizing CHIP for the next four years would cost about $10 billion — an investment in our children that will pay off for decades to come. This is an opportunity to send a message that Washington is still capable of making common-sense progress for American families.’’

Even in these deeply polarizing times, responsible players in Congress will heed Clinton and Frist’s advice and ensure children’s health care does not degenerate into a political football.