House must follow Senate’s lead and extend vital program for children’s health

House bill will originate in Rep. Cramer’s committee

(FARGO, N.D.) — With funding set to expire on September 30, 2017 for the vital Children’s Health Insurance Program, a bipartisan group of Senators announced on Tuesday, September 12 a deal to continue funding the program for five years. It is now up to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on which Rep. Kevin Cramer sits, to do the right thing.

“This program has a long history of bipartisan support, having improved health, economic and educational outcomes for working families for decades,” said congressional candidate Ben Hanson. “If Kevin Cramer and his colleagues on the Committee can’t do what their Senate colleagues did, they should find a new line of work.”

Background

• Nearly 9 million children — including nearly 5,000 in North Dakota — will either lose their coverage or pay significantly higher coverage rates for lesser coverage if the program is not renewed prior to September 30. [Recommendations for the Future for CHIP and Children’s Coverage, The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, January 2017, at page 45.]
• Since CHIP was enacted in 1997, the rate of uninsured children in the typical CHIP income range has decreased from 22.8 percent (1997) to 6.7 percent (2015). [Id. at page 5.]