A program that provides insurance for the children of low-income families will stop enrollment on Jan. 1, 2018 and end completely a month later, according to the Alabama Department of Health.
A program that provides insurance for the children of low-income families will stop enrollment on Jan. 1, 2018 and end completely a month later, according to the Alabama Department of Health.
If Congress does not renew funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which expired on Sept. 30, about 84,000 children in Alabama risk losing health insurance. The state will have to find funding for another 77,000 children insured under Medicaid through the CHIP program. Nationally, about 9 million children receive coverage through CHIP, and many states plan to shutter the program if funding runs out.
In Alabama, the program funded by CHIP is known as ALL Kids. Families with incomes of up to 312 percent of the federal poverty limit can qualify if they don't have access to affordable insurance. Families pay $52 or $104 a year to cover children under the age of 19, depending on income, plus small co-pays for sick visits.
"These are middle income working Alabama families," said Cathy Caldwell, director of the Bureau of Children's Health Insurance Programs for the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Caldwell said ALL Kids has existed in Alabama since 1998 and has proved to be a very popular and successful program. When the program started, about 20 percent of children in Alabama lacked health insurance. That number is now 2.4 percent - the best in the South.
If Congress does not renew funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which expired on Sept. 30, about 84,000 children in Alabama risk losing health insurance. The state will have to find funding for another 77,000 children insured under Medicaid through the CHIP program. Nationally, about 9 million children receive coverage through CHIP, and many states plan to shutter the program if funding runs out.
In Alabama, the program funded by CHIP is known as ALL Kids. Families with incomes of up to 312 percent of the federal poverty limit can qualify if they don't have access to affordable insurance. Families pay $52 or $104 a year to cover children under the age of 19, depending on income, plus small co-pays for sick visits.
"These are middle income working Alabama families," said Cathy Caldwell, director of the Bureau of Children's Health Insurance Programs for the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Caldwell said ALL Kids has existed in Alabama since 1998 and has proved to be a very popular and successful program. When the program started, about 20 percent of children in Alabama lacked health insurance. That number is now 2.4 percent - the best in the South.
"It is a very, very important and popular program," Caldwell said. "It has served hundreds of thousands of children over the years."
Funding for CHIP emerged as a campaign issue in the recent special election, and Senator-elect Doug Jones urged Congress to act before the end of December. Jones will not be seated until the Alabama Secretary of State certifies the election results - which could happen within the next two weeks.
Officials at the Alabama Department of Public Health have not yet sent letters to families on ALL Kids, Caldwell said. They are holding off until late next week to see if members of Congress act to fund the program. Caldwell said they have already received calls from parents worried about their children's health coverage.
Some families may be able to enroll in insurance through the federal marketplace, Caldwell said. Open enrollment ended on Dec. 15 this year, a month and a half earlier than the first few years of the Affordable Care Act. Caldwell said the end of ALL Kids would allow parents to sign up for insurance outside of the open enrollment period.
However, she said many families might not be able to afford private insurance - even with tax credits for low-income families.
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