Keeping CHIP

Children’s health care is no political football

Universal health care is a divisive issue — unless it’s care for children. The federal Children’s Health Insurance Program began in 1997 with little of the vitriol surrounding Obamacare, and it’s thrived quietly with bipartisan support.

CHIP insures more than 7 million children nationwide and nearly 150,000 in Pennsylvania. It comes with a shelf life, however. The program is authorized to function through 2019, but its funding expires in September. While Republican leaders appear headed to approve funds for another two years, they should extend it through 2019. As a rare federal program with both Republican and Democratic support, it should not become a bargaining chip, as did the Homeland Security budget.

Under CHIP, the number of uninsured children in Pennsylvania has dropped to about 5 percent, a rate that should be even lower since families can obtain generous, no-deductible benefits that include vision, dental and mental-health treatment at minimal cost. Monthly premiums range from zero to $77 per child for those at 200 percent of the poverty level ($48,500 for a family of four). The Affordable Care Act offers subsidized health insurance for families, but if parents decline to enroll, CHIP can ensure that at least their children are covered.

Pennsylvanians, in particular, have reason to cheer CHIP, as its genesis can be traced here. The commonwealth’s much-lauded program, on which the federal initiative was partly based, took its cue from Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church’sefforttoraisefundsthatwould provide health insurance for the children of jobless steel workers in the 1980s.

With Republican presidential hopefuls vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare’s longterm prospects are still being challenged. CHIP’s future appears assured, however, and would be more certain with funding that corresponds with the life of the program.