Kids at the Children's Hospital of Alabama watch superhero window washers. Photo: Brynn Anderson / AP
Alabama will send letters to parents around Christmas notifying them that 84,000 kids stand to lose health coverage next year as funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program evaporates, Cathy Caldwell, director of Alabama's Bureau of Children's Health Insurance, confirmed to Axios.
Why it matters: Congress has failed to extend CHIP funding even though the program has bipartisan support. Democrat Doug Jones supports renewing CHIP money; Republican Roy Moore has not committed to funding CHIP, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
More details: Alabama shares its CHIP funding among 84,000 children in its ALL Kids program and the 77,000 children in the regular Medicaid program. Only those in the ALL Kids program would be affected if Congress doesn't extend CHIP funding.