Arizona gov discusses CHIP contingency plan

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has detailed backup plans to continue his state’s insurance program for an estimated 23,000 children, according to news reports.

Congress failed to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by a Sept. 30 deadline, which has lead to uncertainty for states. Some have had to ask the Trump administration for help to continue their programs until Congress passes a bill extending the program.

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Arizona was awarded $21 million in unused funds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and expects the money to last until at least December. But, if the congressional funding lapse continues, Arizona may dip into its $460 million rainy day fund, according to The Associated Press.

“We’ll deal with circumstances as they happen,” Ducey told reporters Tuesday. “It’s part of the reason we’ve been fiscally responsible, it’s why we’ve grown the rainy day fund.”

State officials are examining how to continue CHIP and could shift money from another federal program to do so, Ducey’s health-care policy adviser said, according to the AP.

The House plans to vote this week on a five-year CHIP bill that Democrats oppose because it pays for the program by cutting an ObamaCare public health fund. On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Finance Committee passed a five-year, bipartisan reauthorization, but has not yet released how it would pay for that reauthorization.