Politico Pulse

By Sarah Wheaton

…KIDS’ STUFF — We told you yesterday about a House measure to coordinate care across state lines for kids on Medicaid with complex conditions, and now the Senate bill is out. The ACE Kids Act will be referred through the Finance Committee, and it’s sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

– Brown announced yesterday that he’s stepping up his push to extend CHIP funding, and he’s expected to introduce a bill that would renew it through 2019. “While the ACA clearly works and is appropriate for kids, we know that CHIP clearly works better,” Brown said on a conference call, noting that the networks and benefits on exchange plans aren’t as good for children. Congress would have to act to fix some of those issues, and Brown said, “We hope by 2019, the politics has sort of disintegrated away and we can do this right.”

– There’s a CHIP angle in the King fight too, notes a brief from the American Academy of Pediatrics, First Focus, March of Dimes and other pediatric advocacy groups. The ACA required that kids not eligible for CHIP be enrolled in equivalent exchange plans, and eliminating subsidies would undercut that backstop, they argue. The brief also notes that if CHIP funding isn’t renewed and the court sides with King, five million kids could lose access to any sort of affordable coverage. The brief: http://politico.pro/1zDPJ0Y

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