ALL Kids, a health insurance program that provides care to over 83,000 Alabama children born into working families with low-to-moderate income, is quickly running out of money. If Congress fails to extend federal money to continue its funding, the program could be dismantled, leaving Alabama children like 18-month-old Micah without life-saving care.

Micah was born with hydronephrosis, a condition where urine builds up in the kidney and causes dangerous swelling. His ALL Kids coverage has paid for costly specialists, medication, testing and will cover an upcoming surgery in which doctors may have to remove one of his kidneys.

“If we lose All Kids, honest to God, I don’t know what we are going to do,” Micah’s mom, Carleigh Schultz, said. “There is no way we could afford my husband’s insurance, but we make too much for Medicaid.”

Carleigh asked that her family’s names be changed because of the stigma accompanying being on government assistance. Her financial predicament, however, is one a lot of Alabama families face.

“I think a lot of people think that ALL Kids is a hand out,” Margaret Falkenberry, a manager at Belk in Huntsville said. “As a single mom raising two kids, I can’t afford to pay for the health insurance my company offers, so ALL Kids has been a lifesaver for us.”

ALL Kids is part of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a federal initiative launched in 1997. The $198 million program is administered through the Alabama Department of Health.

Yearly premiums range from $52-$104 per year per child and parents are expected to pay some copays for care. The insurance covers routine care, vaccinations, prescriptions and hospital care for eligible children until the age of 19.

The program will run out of money in March 2018 if Congress does not vote to continue funding it. For the last two years, the federal government has been providing 100 percent of the funding for ALL Kids, because as Rep. Danny Crawford explained, “The state simply doesn’t have the money.”

Last year, the federal government granted $1.6 billion dollars to Alabama’s general fund, more than $7 million of which went to fund Medicaid. But that $7 million fell short of covering all of the costs associated with Medicaid, including ALL Kids. The fact the state refused to expand Medicaid spending in 2016 adds to the current shortfalls.

Teek Patnaik is executive director of Health Establishments at Local Schools Inc, a nonprofit clinic in Huntsville that provides health care to uninsured and underinsured children. Patnaik described the situation as “a classic example of an over-needed yet underfunded resource,” adding that losing All Kids could bring an increase of children being brought to emergency rooms for things that should be treated by a visit to their pediatrician.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act prohibits hospitals from turning away patients in their emergency room, regardless of age or ability to pay, until a medical screening has determined the patient is not suffering from an emergency medical condition.

Patnaik hopes the increase in emergency visits for nonemergent conditions will be avoided.

“My hope is that there is someone who is greater and higher guiding these folks that make the decisions about ALL Kids and that they will view the issue though the eyes of a child and not as a politician,” he said.

Crawford is hopeful as well.

“This is not the first time Congress has missed a deadline,” Crawford said. “We are going to hope that Congress finds a way to fund it, so we can keep this program going.”