CHIP was designed specifically for children, providing a safety net of coverage to children in families meeting certain income limits. However, with the reauthorization of CHIP, consumers can further cull the interrelated problems of our health insurance system of state governments, federal government, use of block grants and ultimately the failed foundation of Obamacare and the sheer unfeasibility of expanding the use of block grants offered by Republicans.
Government likes block grants because they are finite amounts of dollars, if states run out of money, they put eligible applicants on wait lists. Therefore block grant money is not an entitlement it's more like an allowance, the federal government (with minimal state contribution) pays for a program and when the money's gone, it's done.
Second, CHIP is currently run with federal block grant money to states.
Third, CHIP inefficiencies are reflected in shortfalls, which can occur for a variety of reasons including STATE mismanagement of the funds they're provided, adding not only federal government bungling, but a new layer of state bungling into potential mismanagement.
Fourth, Obamacare's failure is again highlighted by the results of CHIP since the law's passage.
I have argued before, that state failures to use their authority over insurance markets and protect their citizens is one of the precursor difficulties that created the opening for an Obamacare federalization plan.
In 1997, CHIP came onboard because of the problem of uninsured children with the federal government paying the majority of costs for the program through block grants. But there was a hitch, with block grants, if you run out of money you're out of money. This is a Washington device for saving money, you get X dollars, when they're done they're gone. It's not an entitlement because poor people can be turned away or put on waiting lists if a state mismanages or gets too little to cover the eligible population.
The idea of the block grant should terrify voters. It's not merely letting the states run the show, which they've largely shown their gross incompetence in doing, just look at the pension systems for state employees in states like California, but it's leaving the possibility of eligible individuals not getting into the program if money runs short. Such a program without effective federal oversight, which has been largely proven impossible under Obamacare as evidenced by its fluid facts and uneven distribution of taxpayer money including rampant fraud, would simply make sloppy or fraudulent state governments a further problem for sloppy or fraudulent federal government practices.
The CHIP dilemma also highlights yet another Obamacare failure. When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the plan was to get kids out of CHIP and onto exchange plans or into expanded Medicaid. However, according to KFF.org, "Total Number of Children Ever Enrolled in CHIP Annually," the number of children enrolled in CHIP has INCREASED under Obamacare, from 7,705,723 in 2011 to 8,900,074 in 2016.
