Thursday, January 23, 2014
Corbett administration official expresses hope feds might change their minds by year’s end, allowing CHIP kids to stay in CHIP longer.
By Chris Comisac
CAPITOLWIRE: Corbett administration official expresses hope feds might change their minds by year’s end, allowing CHIP kids to stay in CHIP longer.
By Chris Comisac
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (Jan. 22) – Many of the families who have the free version of health insurance coverage through Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will be able to keep it at least until the end of 2014 if they want to keep it.
State Insurance Commissioner Mike Consedine on Wednesday announced an agreement Pennsylvania has reached with federal officials to delay the planned 2014 move of families with household income between 100 percent and 133 percent of federal poverty from CHIP to Medicaid.
“If I’m one of those parents, I’d really welcome the news that at least for this year, I have the option of keeping my doctors and my coverage – we know that’s really important to those Pennsylvania families,” said Consedine.
The federal Affordable Care Act contains a requirement that all children in households having incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level be enrolled in Medicaid. Children from families earning more than 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or $31,322 for a family of four, are not affected by the ACA or this agreement and will remain in CHIP.
Gov. Tom Corbett and his administration have fought to allow the families of the 30,000 or so children impacted by the ACA’s requirement to make their own decision to stay with CHIP or move to Medicaid. Corbett has repeatedly noted that Medicaid’s health care provider participation isn’t at the same level as CHIP, and children could end up losing their providers if moved to Medicaid, a disruption in care he would prefer to not occur.
Consedine said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in a Jan. 13 email, outlined provisions of an agreement – with which Pennsylvania agreed in a Jan. 17 letter to HHS – to allow the state to extend CHIP as a health insurance offering through the end of 2014 to those low-income families currently in the program.
Those provisions allow families within the aforementioned household income population and currently enrolled in CHIP to have the option to remain in CHIP or switch to Medicaid now. Also, upon the renewal period of their CHIP coverage, families will likewise be given the option to stay in CHIP or go to Medicaid. However, at the end of 2014 – unless the agreement is altered – all families having incomes of 133 percent of the federal poverty level or below are to be transferred to Medicaid.
Consedine said federal officials are looking at this agreement as “kinda a pilot project for Pennsylvania,” so there’s always the possibility that when 2015 rolls around, the question about a required move to Medicaid could be reconsidered.
“A lot can happen over the course of a year as we have seen from HHS; they’ve made some changes at a moment’s notice, and that’s also true of Congress, which has already expressed an interest in what’s going on with the CHIP programs,” said Consedine. “We’ve made the agreement we made for this year, but we’re certainly hopeful that HHS will look at what happens in Pennsylvania’s program and CHIP programs across the country and maybe take some lessons learned away from that in terms of the importance of this program going forward.”
“I think we should take a look at where we are come November and December, and if the vast majority of Pennsylvania families have made the informed decision to stay in CHIP, I would hope that would count for something,” he added.
“I would hope that they [HHS] would make that observation on their own, and at that point we would talk about what’s in the best interest of Pennsylvania families,” Consedine said. “If their position is that the law requires them [families] to move – whether they like it or not – into Medicaid, then that’s something we’ll have to work through per our agreement” with HHS.
He said the Insurance Department is now working with HHS to develop the notices that will go out to families as early as next week.
“They will have the information they need to make an informed decision, and in some cases, moving to Medicaid may be in their interest – we want to make sure parents have that information,” said Consedine.
