Without CHIP, what happens to these kids?

The bad news letter arrived, as expected.

The letter from Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy and Financing explained that the state’s Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) program would be unfunded on Jan. 31 should Congress fail to act.

CHP+ is Colorado’s version the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which supports 9 million Americans, including 75,000 Coloradans, who work hard, do not qualify for Medicaid and yet do not earn enough to secure private health care or coverage from their employers. CHIP models Americans supporting other Americans at its best. No one gets a “free ride,” as CHIP families contribute to the program.

I cannot think of anyone in Colorado who wants CHIP to lose funding — from Colorado’s Department of Human Services to our governor and state representatives. In fact, our two U.S. senators have co-sponsored legislation to continue to fund this program through 2022.

After receiving the CHP+ letter last week, I walked down the halls of Tennyson Center for Children.

One 11-year-old child in particular caught my eye. One among 15 kids currently at Tennyson thanks to the support of CHP+, he has caught up on two years of schooling in less than one year at Tennyson and will soon return to public school. He came to us because his district school felt they were ill-equipped to help him process trauma, borne of abuse at the hands of a relative, and keep him engaged in school.

Since his arrival at Tennyson, this boy’s family has seen their “old son” return wiser and stronger, having traveled a hard road of recovery that too many children have to take.

With the termination of CHIP, Congress is asking us at Tennyson to say “thanks for coming, best of luck” as we walk kids like him out the door.

I imagine waving goodbye to this boy on Jan. 31, wishing him well and knowing — from years of experience — that kids ripped out in the middle of their healing often backslide.

Emergency rooms are most certainly in his future, at greater cost to society than the cost of CHP+, and the school he returns to may see improvement but may also eventually label him a difficult child should he regress. The school and his family will have nowhere to send him this time as he falls through the gaps in coverage.

Kids on CHP+ who, like this young man, are now at risk of being unable to complete their healing, are incarcerated at dramatically greater rates than the general population, rarely earn a college degree, and have PTSD rates six times greater than the public.

Agencies like Tennyson, as well as our state and county partners, are in an untenable situation. Of course, the CHP+ kids currently at Tennyson will not be asked to leave on Jan. 31. We will tighten our already tight belts and accompany these amazing kids and families on their healing journeys.

But how long can we sustain this? Kids and families wanting to heal and falling in gaps bridged by CHIP will have a harder time getting the support they need. We will see those kids we abandoned on our streets, in our jails, and in our hospitals, and wonder whether a small investment in their healing as children would have made the difference.

We know that answer to be yes, and sadly watch as kids and families are pushed from the American table because Congress no longer wants to see them, and can’t seem to make space for them anymore in our once great land.