MedPage Today quoted Manatt's Melinda Dutton, a partner in the firm's Healthcare practice, in an article covering the National Children's Health Policy Conference, which focused on rethinking the design, benefits, and networks offered under the Affordable Care Act.
As reported by MedPage Today, one aspect of the ACA that needs improvement is standards for the essential benefits for children. Some conference attendees recommended using CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) plans as a benchmark for pediatric services. CHIP plans offer more benefits than the essential health benefits offered by qualified health plans. While it isn't part of the ACA, the issue of whether to extend CHIP, slated to expire in September 2015, emerged in nearly every discussion at the conference, with unanimous support for extension. If CHIP funding ended, 1 million children would lose their insurance
Dutton said, "I think it would be really tragic to dismantle CHIP before we have a very good sense of what we're replacing it with."
Read the article here.