Congress still hasnt renewed much-needed funding for childrens health insurance coverage
Program (CHIP) to expire. Since then, states have been grappling with the reality that nine million children may soon lose critical health care coverage.
While CHIP has historically received support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, this year, Congress has allowed disagreements over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to take precedence over reauthorizing funding for the program. Things are now especially dire for Arizona, the District of Columbia, Minnesota, and North Carolina — all of which are expected to run out of CHIP funds by next month. Thirty-one states will likely exhaust their funding by March 2018.
“We’re in an unprecedented situation,” Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, told ThinkProgress. Referring to Congress’ delay in funding the program, Alker said, “We’ve never seen anything like this happen before.”
Created in 1997, CHIP provides low-cost health care coverage to millions of children whose parents’ income exceeds Medicaid qualification levels, but only amount up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The program, which also helps pregnant parents, is funded through a block grant that provides states with a set amount of dollars that they then match with their own funds. CHIP helped lower the rate of uninsured children from 14 percent in 1997 to 4.5 percent in 2015, providing much-needed coverage for routine check-ups, prescriptions, dental and vision care, emergency services, and other critical health care needs.
https://thinkprogress.org/congress-states-exhaust-funds-health-coverage-children-265eb0a18d22/
= new reply since forum marked as read
this could be one of those "shut down the government" issues.
After "Republican donor tax relief" ends one way or the other, CHIP should find itself attached to some budget or other and slip through unnoticed by anyone excepts Democrats! 
