What’s wrong with CHIP?
A $10.2 billion CHIP bill will be voted on by the U.S. House on Wednesday, the day before President Donald Trump and his Republican colleagues are scheduled to sign it into law.
The bill is the largest federal program to combat the virus, and is designed to expand access to lifesaving drug therapies.
It also will provide money to help states cover the costs of the program’s $1.9 billion cost over the next two years.
However, concerns have been raised that the bill could make it harder for states to obtain federal funding for the program, which covers more than 11 million Americans.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in July that a federal budget of $1 billion a year for the CHIP program would cost states $3.3 billion in 2018-19.
This year, it projects $2.6 billion, and in 2019-20 the CBO projects $3 billion.
But the CBO said that while states are more likely to be able to access federal money to cover the cost of the CHICPs, that doesn’t mean they will.
The agency said that federal funds will be allocated to states that have “low per capita CHIP utilization rates” — states with rates below 75% for the most recent five-year period.
It found that states with per capita rates below 50% were less likely to have federal money available to cover their CHIP costs.
The CBO also said that the law would “likely exacerbate the problem” of states that lack adequate funding to cover CHIP payments, which are intended to be covered by states.
The CHIP plan is being debated in Congress by Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, and by Rep: Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican.
It would replace current CHIP funding with a block grant that would be used for specific programs like Medicaid and CHIP, and it would set aside $1 trillion over the coming decade to help cover the increased costs of treating the virus.
It is unclear if the House will pass the bill.
The House is not expected to vote on the bill until Friday.
It’s likely that the Senate would have to act before the CHI program is finalized.
The full text of the bill can be found here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2018/sen-bill-chip-funding-plan