Take Action: Tell Congress to Re-Authorize the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

As you may be aware, funding for Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired on Sept. 30. Without reauthorization in the next 30 days, Pennsylvania will run out of CHIP funding by the end of the year. 

With this loss of coverage, many of Pennsylvania's children will be without health coverage and families will suffer. We encourage you to sign on to the below letter, circulated by United Way of Pennsylvania:

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, Minority Leader Pelosi, Senator Toomey, and Senator Casey,

We, the undersigned organizations representing diverse segments from all areas of Pennsylvania, are writing to urge you to take immediate action to provide a five-year funding extension for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP funding has expired putting millions of children at risk of losing essential healthcare and shifting significant costs on states to address budget shortfalls. Congress must act now to ensure that states can continue to operate their programs without interruption.  There is no such thing as “safely delaying” action on CHIP; the consequences have already started. Children and families cannot afford the financial and health ramifications of losing coverage. 

CHIP is a bipartisan success story.  Enacted in 1997 with broad bipartisan support, CHIP helps low-income children from working families who do not have access to employer-based coverage, but earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.  Before its enactment, over 23% of low income children were uninsured. Today only 5% of children remain uninsured, nationally. 

CHIP provides healthcare coverage that is necessary for a child’s early development.  For the first three years of a child’s life and beyond, access to quality, pediatric-centered healthcare is critical for their brain development and social, 

emotional well-being.  Health plans offered through CHIP are specifically designed for children, with a long track record of recognizing their unique developmental needs, providing regular wellness visits, developmental screenings and immunizations.  Decades of data tells us that access to early quality healthcare has predictive short and long term educational outcomes for a child’s success in school.  

CHIP supports the financial stability of hard-working families.  CHIP covers 8.9 million children in working families and its lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs ensure working families can afford quality healthcare for the children.  With the lack of Congressional action, millions of the children who stand to lose CHIP would have no other coverage option available to them. The resulting decrease in the rate of insurance would be an enormous step backwards for children.

The stakes are particularly high in Pennsylvania. The state estimates that federal funding will run out by December 31, 2017, if not sooner, putting health insurance for children at risk. With more than 95% of Pennsylvania’s children having health insurance coverage – 32% of whom are covered by Medicaid or CHIP – Pennsylvania cannot afford to move backwards with a lapse in federal CHIP funding.

It is also important to recognize that the success of CHIP rests on the shoulders on a robustly funded Medicaid program.  While nearly 9 million children receive healthcare through CHIP, and additional 50 million children receive coverage from Medicaid.  Together, more than 40% of US children depend on Medicaid and CHIP for their healthcare coverage.

CHIP has strong bipartisan roots and was developed as a state-federal partnership that gives governors broad flexibility to design their programs to target the needs of their child populations.  Pennsylvania children and families cannot afford further delay: please act swiftly to extend CHIP funding for five years to ensure that children from hardworking families retain access to affordable and comprehensive health coverage.

If you would like your organization and voice added, please email your name, title, and organization name to Justin Vatti by noon on Nov. 10, 2017. For questions and more information, contact Marc Rittle.