News
As noted last week in the Government Relations Open Forum in Dental Interact (DI),
NADP has continued its support for the Children’s Health Insurance
Program (CHIP) in joining a coalition of dental specific trades and
consumer stakeholders urging Congress to reauthorize funding for the program, which ends this fall. While NADP has joined other broader coalitions, this letter is
dental focused; it was drafted by Children’s Dental Health Project
(CDHP) and joined by the American Dental Association (ADA) and others.
Meanwhile on
the Hill, negotiations are ongoing in the House and Senate to secure a
deal that would permanently fix Medicare physician reimbursement and
potentially replace the existing “Sustainable Growth Rate” formula (SGR)
that has been in place since the late 1990s. Currently, the plan would
also include a two-year “clean” extension for CHIP funding, meaning
there would be no changes to how the program is implemented. While NADP
and others in the oral health coalition have been requesting a four-year
extension instead of two, a clean CHIP measure is good news,
particularly after drafts discussed late last year included problematic
provisions (i.e. requiring carriers to coordinate out-of-pocket costs
and having Essential Health Benefits parallel CHIP, including cost
sharing).
An outline of the SGR proposal is available online here. Stay tuned to Dental Interact where we will continue to post updates on CHIP funding reauthorization.
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