Campaign Action
There is one person in particular to blame for this.
Officials in nearly a dozen states are preparing to notify families that a crucial health insurance program for low-income children is running out of money for the first time since its creation two decades ago, putting coverage for many at risk by the end of the year. […]
"We are very concerned, and the reason is that Congress hasn't shown a strong ability to get stuff done," said Bruce Lesley, president of Washington, D.C.-based First Focus, a child and family advocacy organization. "And the administration is completely out, has not even uttered a syllable on the issue. How this gets resolved is really unclear, and states are beginning to hit deadlines."
Others paying close attention to the issue remain hopeful that Congress will extend funding before January, but states say they cannot rest on hope.
"Everybody is still waiting and thinking Congress is going to act, and they probably will, but you can't run a health-care program that way," said Linda Nablo, chief deputy director at Virginia's Department of Medical Assistance Services. "You can't say 'probably' everything is going to be all right." […]
"We don't want to act too fast if Congress is going to restore this, but we also want to give families enough time," she said. "We have kids in the middle of cancer treatment, pregnant women in the middle of prenatal care."
The person most responsible for this is Sen. Orrin Hatch. CHIP was his and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's creation, decades ago when Hatch had human feelings and when children mattered to him.
Jam the phone lines of House and Senate Republicans, but make the first call to Hatch. Call (202) 224-3121, and tell him to stop holding kids hostage and to pass a clean funding bill for CHIP and community health centers.
Longtime physician William Rees remembers the years before CHIP's safety net, when families without coverage would put off bringing a sick child to the doctor until symptoms were so severe they would end up in a hospital emergency room.
"Pediatrics is mostly preventive medicine, it's so important what we do," said Rees, who has practiced in Northern Virginia since 1975. "It's about trying to keep up with routine visits. If (children) don't have insurance, that often doesn't happen, so CHIP keeps them in the system and they get their vaccines when they're due."
Now all that matters to Hatch is tax cuts for the very rich. He and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) have a bill for funding the program for five years. It's been passed out of the Finance Committee. But instead of pushing his leadership to get that bill to the Senate floor, instead of championing his legacy and the 9 million children and 370,000 pregnant women nationwide who get care through the program, he's diverted his energies to tax cuts. That's how his legacy in the Senate will be cemented.