Article twenty-five of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their family. This includes clothing, shelter, food, medical care and necessary social services (UDHR). United State legislation moved a step closer to this goal domestically by enacting the bill H.R. 2015. H.R. 2015, later called the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, implemented many changes to Medicaid. One of the most important being the Children’s Health Insurance Program, better known as CHIP (H.R. 2015). Within the Balanced Budget Act Subtitle J, two changes were made. Chapter one amended the previous Medicaid act to provide funds to states to expand the provision …show more content…
The Child Health Insurance Program has been a bipartisan effort for the last decade. According to the Medicaid’s official website, there are currently about 8.9 million children enrolled in CHIP (Medicaid). The legislation enacted by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 reduced the number of uninsured children in the United States by almost 10 percent from 1997 to 2012(KFF). The most beneficial aspect of the act is the resulting legal consequence. The legal implication of CHIP applies to states. CHIP legally requires states to provide children from low incomes homes opportunities for healthcare. It also legally binds states to fill in healthcare gaps that Medicaid cannot handle for disabled children. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, CHIP and Medicaid combined now cover more than 1 in every 3 children in the U.S. However, there are negative repercussions associated with the Children Health Insurance Program as well. The first being cost. Federal and State spending combined for CHIP is $15,618,426,000 (KKF). Some also argue that CHIP is not as effective as data suggest. 5.2 million uninsured children are eligible for CHIP or Medicaid but are not enrolled. Leaving questions about the federal enforcement of states to provide benefits available to