Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse wants to expand health care coverage for children
Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse has introduced the Save Children's Coverage Act, a bill to expand and preserve access to health care coverage for children and certain adults.
According to Neguse's office, "public health emergency children and eligible individuals enrolled in Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus have had continuous eligibility, meaning that over the course of the pandemic they have not been redetermined or disenrolled from critical coverage plans. When the public health emergency officially ends on May 11, 2023, these individuals are at risk of losing health care coverage. The Save Children's Coverage Act circumvents the administratively burdensome waiver processes and authorizes their inclusion in Standard State Plan Amendment (SPA) options—securing continued access to health care coverage for over 250,000 kids in the state of Colorado alone."
"As our country recovers from the devastating coronavirus pandemic, we must ensure that lifesaving healthcare policies remain intact. The Save Children's Coverage Act extends health care coverage plans put in place to protect hundreds of thousands of kids, not just in Colorado, but across America. Just as we did throughout COVID-19, we must remain committed to caring for the health and wellbeing of some of this country's most vulnerable citizens," said Neguse in a statement.
"The Save Children's Coverage Act will help hundreds of thousands of kids across the country who are eligible for public health coverage – including tens of thousands of kids in Colorado – stay insured," said Erin Miller, Vice President of Health Initiatives at the Colorado Children's Campaign, in a statement. "During the Public Health Emergency, kids and families got covered and stayed covered – a definite bright spot in the dark days of the pandemic. This bill gives states additional flexibility to maintain these coverage gains and easily reduce burdensome redetermination processes that make it hard for families with young kids, those who don't speak English as a first language, and people without stable housing to maintain their Medicaid and CHIP coverage. We wholeheartedly support this legislation and thank Representative Neguse for his leadership on this important issue."
The Save Children's Coverage Act ends current continuous coverage policies, creating new health care coverage options for:
- Continuous coverage for children under 6 years old,
- Continuous 24-month eligibility for all children under 19 years old; and
- Continuous 12-month eligibility for adults in transition, which include individuals who identify as low income, houseless, or those transitioning from a carceral setting.
