Letter to the Hon. Paul Ryan and the Hon. Nancy Pelosi - Hold Bipartisan Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Vote
Letter
Dear Speaker Ryan and Leader Pelosi:
We write on behalf of Minnesota's most vulnerable populations to urge you to bring bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to the House floor as soon as possible.
As you know, CHIP funding expired on September 30th, 2017. While most states will not exhaust their CHIP funds until months from now, Minnesota will exhaust its allotment sooner, and is thus already facing the difficult decision to take significant monetary losses in order to continue health care coverage for the population it serves. Our state's commitment to providing the most robust coverage possible means that Minnesota generally spends its entire CHIP allotment each year, under the assumption that CHIP funding will continue in a timely manner without any lapse.
Without immediate action, the pregnant women covered by CHIP will be at risk of losing coverage altogether. Minnesota is trying to temporarily extend this coverage so that prenatal and postpartum care can continue uninterrupted, but this comes with a serious financial cost to the state. Our state has received temporary CHIP redistribution funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to cover the infants under two years of age and pregnant women through October. However, Minnesota will face a hard choice at the end of October about whether to carry forward funding to continue coverage, which would result in a financial loss of $10 million due to a penalty for using carryover funds.
We cannot overstate the urgency of this situation. This is a particularly time-sensitive request, as Congress has already missed the deadline to reauthorize this vital program. As Minnesota's House delegation, we remain committed to the strong bipartisan ideals of CHIP. We strongly request that you bring bipartisan CHIP reauthorization to the House floor immediately so we can ensure certainty in healthcare for our constituents who need it most.
Sincerely,
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