We Have a Children's Health Emergency!
October 10, 2017
We have a children’s health emergency!
As all the attention was on saving the Affordable Care Act, Congress allowed the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to expire on September 30th, putting 9 million children’s health care at risk! Yikes. Right now, some of your members of Congress are home in their districts. One thing we know for sure is they’ll be reading their local newspapers to find out what’s important to their constituents. This makes it the perfect time to submit a letter to the editor in support of CHIP!
Will you join me in writing a letter to the editor that calls on Congress to act NOW to extend CHIP?
It’s easy! When you click on the link above, we’ll lead you through a quick process to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. This tool is pretty magical—you can easily edit our pre-drafted letter and send it to your paper with just a few clicks.
The pre-drafted letter reads:
Congress allowed the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to expire Sept 30th, which provides health insurance to 9 million American children. Without CHIP funding, millions of children nationwide and thousands in our state will be at risk of losing their health coverage with no other affordable alternative. With a lot of bipartisan support for this widely popular program, it should be a no-brainer to pass a clean, fully funded extension of CHIP—Congress just needs to act!
CHIP ensures coverage for the most vulnerable children and helps to ease the burden of parents struggling economically. Since its inception in 1997, CHIP and Medicaid have helped to cut the number of uninsured children by 68% while improving health outcomes and access to care for kids and pregnant women across the US. In fact, CHIP and Medicaid cover 1 in 3 kids in the US.
In order to keep our children healthy and help families that are struggling economically, it is crucial that Congress extend CHIP funding for five years this month! It’s the perfect opportunity for our leaders in Washington, D.C. to come together to get something positive done for the American people.
Just click this link to send a letter to the editor to your local paper and raise your voice for CHIP!
What’s the hurry? Without CHIP funding, millions of children nationwide will be at risk of losing their health coverage with no other affordable alternative. With federal funding running out, massive uncertainty has been created for states, so if Congress doesn’t act fast to extend CHIP, states will soon have to start notifying families that their coverage will end.
CHIP is crucial, as it helps to cover children who fall into a gap—their families make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but they also cannot afford private health insurance. In addition, CHIP helps to provide support for children with special health care needs and to reduce disparities in coverage for communities of color—more than half of Hispanic and Black children are covered through CHIP and Medicaid. Families can’t afford to have uncertainty about whether their children will have health insurance next year, which is why it’s imperative for Congress to act NOW!
We need to remind members of Congress that children’s health is a priority for their constituents. Send a letter to the editor NOW!
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