Fifty days and counting

Sunday marks 50 days since authorization for the Children’s Health Insurance Program expired. Deepest shame on Congress for letting it come to this. Created 20 years ago, thanks in no small part to the tireless efforts of a First Lady named Hillary Clinton, CHIP is a federal-state initiative to extend coverage to low-income kids not eligible for Medicaid. About 9 million youngsters nationwide currently benefit.

After the law lapsed Sept. 30, states have scrambled to cover impacted families with existing funds, but those are finite. Four states — Arizona, Minnesota, North Carolina and Oregon — are likely to be out of funds by the end of the year. Another 27 states — including New York and its 330,000 affected recipients — will run out of cash within the first three months of 2018.

We repeat: This is health insurance for children.