Immediate Reauthorization of Children's Health Insurance Program Urged

Washington, D.C. - October 17, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Congressman David Scott (D-GA, 13th) called for Congress to take immediate action and implement a 5 year reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which expired September 30. CHIP provides health care for 8.9 million children across the U.S, including over 130,000 kids covered through Georgia’s CHIP program, PeachCare for Kids.

“With the House currently in recess for 10 days, no vote on CHIP reauthorization has been scheduled in the House or Senate and 17 days have already passed since Congress let CHIP funding lapse. If Congress continues to fail to do its job and not reauthorize PeachCare funding right away, thousands of children in Georgia will lose access to the vital care they need to grow up and stay healthy. Georgia has the 4th highest number of uninsured children in the country. It is estimated that Georgia will run out of PeachCare funding at the beginning of 2018. Congress should be working to ensure that all children who are eligible for CHIP health care get covered, not squabbling while millions of families wait in fear that the program will end due to Congressional inaction. I call on all of my colleagues in Congress to continue the last two decades of bipartisan support for CHIP and reauthorize it for an additional 5 years. Don’t pull the rug out from under working families! Don’t let partisan squabbling jeopardize the health of millions of children! Let’s do our job, so that the thousands of families in Georgia with PeachCare can rest easy knowing that if their child gets sick, they can get the care they need.”

The Children’s Health Insurance Program is a partnership between the federal government and states that has helped ensure access to health care for children and pregnant mothers from low-income working families across the United States. Without reauthorization, states will be unable to maintain the current level of access to health coverage for children in low-income families. Thousands of working families in Georgia will be forced to make difficult decisions, as PeachCare primarily covers families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but still can’t afford to purchase coverage in the private market.

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