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State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

I joined a majority in the House of Representatives in support of bipartisan legislation, to provide health care to more than 10 million low-income children. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act has passed the House twice. These bipartisan bills reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for five years and preserve the coverage for all 6.6 million children currently covered by CHIP nationwide. The bills also extended health care coverage to 3.8 million additional low-income children. The President vetoed both pieces of legislation.
 
Right now, millions of children in America’s working families can’t see doctors when they should and can’t get medicines when they need them, because their parents just can’t afford costly private insurance. Congress has worked to pass a bill that would give millions of low-income children the chance for good health, but the President continues to veto the legislation.
 
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was created in 1997 to provide health care coverage for children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance. Since the creation of CHIP, North Carolina has been a national leader in finding and enrolling eligible children. Because of this success, North Carolina has chronically faced shortfalls in federal funding for the program. 
 
Unfortunately, the House has not been able to override the Presidential vetoes. The Omnibus Appropriations Bill 0f 2008 included language that will allow CHIP to continue in its current form until March 31, 2009. House leadership has stated that they will act sooner than this to address state shortfalls and to enroll more low-income children. I will continue to try to ensure that North Carolina has the resources to continue covering the 120,280 children currently enrolled in CHIP and to expand the program to allow more children from low-income families to enroll.