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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | November 3, 2021 01:51 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Milou Mackenzie |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | CHIP Legislation |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation to allow monies in the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund to be appropriated to make the delinquent CHIP members current with premium payments at a certain date in the future. On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States issued a proclamation that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constitutes a national emergency. On the same day, pursuant to section 1135 of the Social Security Act, the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services invoked his authority to waive or modify certain requirements of titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the Act to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, as determined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This authority took effect as of March 15, 2020, with a retroactive effective date of March 1, 2020. The federal public health emergency period will terminate, and waivers will no longer be available, upon termination of the public health emergency, including any extensions. The Wolf Administration informed insurers, on March 23, 2020, not to terminate CHIP enrollees for nonpayment of premium. In complying with that administrative directive, insurers have not terminated any children who have not paid their premiums as of their 3/1/20 invoices. As of 10/31/21, the number of delinquent accounts for CHIP members are in the thousands with owed premiums, resulting in millions of dollars owed for delinquent premiums. Without a plan, I believe the sudden end to the grace period will create confusion and additional stress and burdens on thousands of individuals and families, if they start getting letters from DHS and insurers seeking back payment for any delinquent premium payments for the past 20 months. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB2072