Colorado may use state money to extend the life of a health insurance program for children, as Congress continues to delay reauthorizing the federal funds that normally pay for it.
Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday sent an emergency request to lawmakers to dip into state coffers and extend the life of the program for one month — until the end of February. The program, which in Colorado is known as the Children’s Health Plan Plus, is currently set to end on Jan. 31 unless Congress reauthorizes the money for it.
“Vulnerable children and pregnant women are being used as bargaining chips,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “This request is not a cure. It’s a one-time only bandaid as we wait for Congress to do what’s right.”
Without money to extend it, state officials expect to begin sending out letters next week to families covered by the program, notifying them of the program’s end.
CHP+, which is part of the national Children’s Health Insurance Program, serves about 75,000 children and pregnant women. To qualify, families must be low-income but make just enough to be above the cutoff for Medicaid.
While the program has bipartisan support in Washington, D.C., Congress let funding for it expire this fall. Since then, Hickenlooper has repeatedly called for it to be renewed.
Hickenlooper’s request asks lawmakers on the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to approve spending about $9.6 million to fund CHP+ for the extra month. The money would come from state cash funds — which are dollars from fees, fines and taxes that are normally earmarked for specific purposes — and not from the general fund.
Colorado’s legislature won’t convene for its new session until next month. But, in an emergency, the JBC can approve new spending without the vote of the full legislature.
The entire budget for CHP+ this fiscal year is about $183 million, nearly 90 percent of which would ordinarily be paid with federal money. Hickenlooper’s request says the extra month would buy time for Congress to reauthorize the program or for state officials to figure out if any of it can be salvaged without federal funds.
“If the Joint Budget Committee does not act immediately,” Hickenlooper’s request states, “the Department will continue to prepare to end the CHP+ on January 31, 2018.”
