San Antonio girl pleads for CHIP funding at U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON - In an 11th-hour drive to rescue a nationwide children's health program, 11-year-old Harmonie Flores-Brown of San Antonio gazed up at a microphone in an ornate Senate hearing room and described what might happen if Congress fails her.

"Me and other kids depend on CHIP, and if it is taken away, I won't be able to see," she said, describing her serious vision disorders. "We need the insurance, I need the insurance. So please don't take it away."

The future of the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, which expired Sept. 30, remains uncertain in the final scheduled week of Congress, in which completion of a Republican tax plan and preventing a government shutdown are priorities in the GOP-run Congress.

Cutoff of benefits

CHIP money has continued to flow due to an extension of government-wide funding that expires Friday. But states have begun issuing warnings about an imminent cutoff of benefits.

Alabama officials said this week that 7,000 children would lose coverage on New Year's Day, with benefits for the remaining 77,000 in the program ending Feb. 1. Connecticut declared Tuesday that it would shutter its program Jan. 31.

In Texas, the Health and Human Services Commission said last week that the program would continue at least through February for some 450,000 uninsured children as a result of the recent promise of $135 million in federal money by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The government reallocates unspent money.

The children's program has bipartisan backing in Congress. But, like other key initiatives, languishes during a tense and confusing conclusion to the first year in Congress since Republicans gained full control of the governing apparatus in Washington.

The fate of efforts to protect 800,000 young undocumented immigrants and the level of military funding in 2018 also hang in the balance, with Congress scheduled to leave for the holidays on Friday.

The 20-year-old CHIP, which serves 9 million children, was designed to provide funding to states to reduce the number of uninsured children.

The program focuses on low-income, working families who don't have health insurance through their jobs and earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. It cost $14.5 billion last fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Pressing for action

Advocates point to measurable success: Since CHIP began, the rate of uninsured children 18 and under has plunged from 14.9 percent to 4.8 percent, according to First Focus, an advocacy group in Washington.

On Tuesday, Dakota Flores of San Antonio, accompanied by Harmonie Flores-Brown and her three other children, were among eight families First Focus brought to Washington in a forum to press for action in Congress.

Flores, 46, a single mother, said that if Congress fails to reauthorize CHIP, she likely would need to quit her job at a pawnshop and subscribe to Medicaid to take care of her children.

Daughter Harmonie needs special glasses again after getting a new pair just in September. Her son, Tyler, requires various medications for ADHD and serious sleep disorders. Both excel in school, and Harmonie's fledgling singing career has taken off with recent performances, one with the San Antonio Symphony, she said.

"CHIP is not for us parents, it's for the kids. With it, even when the world around them tells them they can't succeed, they do," she said, her voice quavering at the microphone.

Added Harmonie: "If CHIP is taken away, millions of kids like me will struggle."