The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a program jointly administered by state and federal governments that insures children whose families’ incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. While CHIP benefits vary by state, every state covers basic services like shots, doctor visits, and prescription medication. Currently, about 5.7 million people are enrolled in CHIP nationwide.
CHIP’s federal funding expired on October 1, 2017. If Congress does not pass a bill renewing this funding, states will exhaust their federal CHIP money as early as December of this year, endangering millions of children’s healthcare access. Some states are already preparing to send letters to families with termination of coverage information.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle have expressed support for reauthorizing federal CHIP funding. However, some Republican lawmakers, like House Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows (R-NC) and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX), are considering using a CHIP reauthorization bill to force through partisan legislation. Adding these partisan policy riders will slow funding reauthorization and put pressure on already-stretched state CHIP budgets. We must urge our members of Congress to support a bipartisan CHIP reauthorization effort and pass a “clean” reauthorization bill.
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- Call Mike Turner at 202-225-6465
- Call Rob Portman at 202-224-3353
- Call Sherrod Brown at 202-224-2315
Script: Hi. I’m [NAME] from [ADDRESS] and am calling because funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program lapsed Sunday, Oct 1 which risks leaving 9 million kids without coverage. Can you tell me what [NAME] is doing to quickly reauthorize CHIP funding and protect kids’ health?
Thanks to 5calls.