It's been over a month since funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired and House Republicans have finally voted to advance a bill to restore funding, but the vote ended up passing along party lines.
The overwhelming majority of Democrats voted against the House GOP bill to restore funding because they tied it to cuts for preventive healthcare, among other things.
Almost every Democrat voted no because the bill pays for CHIP by cutting more than $10 billion from Obamacare’s public health and prevention fund, and by raising Medicare fees for higher-income senior citizens.
The bill also cuts the grace period for people who miss a payment on their health insurance premiums from 90 days to 30, a change expected to cause about 700,000 people to lose their insurance.
These are not 1:1 cuts, meaning these cuts to Obamacare are not exactly intended to pay for CHIP funding. CHIP costs the federal government between $13 to $14 billion per year and this 5-year authorization bill includes just $10 billion in cuts for things like vaccinations and screenings.
This is just the latest attempt to undermine the law, not to actually pay for health insurance for children.
The good news, depending on your perspective, is that the Senate isn't going to pass this bill. The bad news is CHIP funding won't be restored until congressional Republicans stop playing grabass. They love grabass.