WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller says the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP, is better than the Affordable Care Act in several ways.
“The wonderful thing about CHIP, unlike the Affordable Care Act, is that it has both dental and mental covered and generally speaking its coverage is better, is better, than the Affordable Care Act, which I don’t like to say but I have to be honest,” Rockefeller said.
The senator made the comments during a Senate subcommittee meeting that he chaired Tuesday afternoon. The focus of the meeting was the continued funding of CHIP. The funding is set to expire Sept. 2015.
Rockefeller said that would be a shame for the program that covers 8 million children and pregnant women in the U.S. including nearly 40,000 in West Virginia.
“We can’t do it. We just can’t do it,” he said. “If it was a matter of high controversy with Republicans and Democrats clawing at each other’s eyeballs, etc., but it’s not the case. It just isn’t the case on this one.”
Rockefeller said CHIP has had good bipartisan support during its 17-year existence. Congress has authorized it until 2019 but the funding only for another year. He said studies show changing CHIP would be costly to those who need it most.
“Moving children into other forms of private insurance would cause a 10-fold increase in the amount of out-of-pocket spending for CHIP families. We can’t afford that. We just can’t have that,” the senator said.
Rockefeller added continuing CHIP funding would be one of his highest priorities during his last few months in office. The senator did not seek reelection.