Last week, the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) sent a memo to staff of congressional leadership about plans to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The memo provides comments from the NAMD staff regarding provisions of the CHIP Extension and Improvement Act, (H.R. 5364) as introduced in the 113th Congress. Some of the comments include how multi-year certainty around federal funding for CHIP is necessary to ensure stability in many aspects of states’ programs, including budgeting, policy and operational planning. Without action by lawmakers, funding for the program will expire on September 30, 2015. Last Thursday, congressional Democrats in both the House and Senate introduced companion bills to extend funding for CHIP for four years through fiscal 2019 (S 522; HR 919). A short summary of the proposed Senate bill is available here.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report of interest to those concerned about health care policy. Medicaid: Additional Federal Action Needed to Further Improve Third-Party Liability Efforts
