The September 30th deadline to renew funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program has come and gone.
And there is still no deal on the table in Congress.
The CHIP program provides health insurance for 1.4 million children in California and nine million kids nationwide.
These children are from families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford a private plan.
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Kelly Hardy is the senior managing director of health policy with the Oakland-based nonprofit Children Now. She said if Congress does not renew CHIP funding soon, California will have to pick up the $2.7 billion tab.
“I would say there are no good options left for filling a budget hole of that size," she said. "And really, the promise from the federal government to hold up their end of the bargain in covering kids is what we’re waiting on here.”
Partisan bickering in Congress is getting in the way of a deal. Republicans in the House insist that CHIP funding must be offset by cuts in other health programs. Democrats have so far resisted that idea.
