It’s true…the cost of health care for most families in our country has put them in a seriously helpless situation.  It’s sad to think that one playground accident could bankrupt a family of four.  A fall from the monkey bars, a broken leg from a football game, an ill-timed sprint in front of the swings.  It’s enough to keep many parents up at night.

However, Senator Robert Casey’s (D-PA) recent amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) should be applauded because of its focus on protecting and improving the successful Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  Our country’s children have a lot at stake in health reform. More than eight million children remain uninsured, and more are losing employer-sponsored coverage daily.  Each day a child is uninsured is a lost opportunity to strengthen America’s future.  Casey’s amendment goes a long way toward protecting and improving coverage for millions of children in low-income working families across the nation by:

• Providing full funding for CHIP through 2019;
• Maintaining current CHIP eligibility through 2013, and setting a floor for income eligibility for children in all states at 250 percent of poverty ($55,125 for a family of four) beginning in 2014;
• Streamlining enrollment procedures making it easier for children to get coverage and keep it;
• Ensuring that coverage for children remains affordable;
• Guaranteeing all children in CHIP the comprehensive care they need from head to toe; and
• Requiring an HHS report in 2016 that will compare coverage for children in CHIP with coverage for children in the new Health Insurance Exchange and if coverage (including benefits, cost-sharing, premiums, and other features) is comparable or better, children can be transitioned from CHIP into the Exchange in 2019.

Our nation has made great strides over the last decade in securing health coverage for low-income children of working families.  We must now seize this historic opportunity to build on the success of prior efforts and the bipartisan CHIP program, and ensure that children will be better off, not worse off, as a result of health reform.  This amendment will do just that.

Along with 610 organizations/individuals across the nation, we offer our strong support for the CHIP Amendment (#2790). We stand ready to work with the Senate to achieve our common goal of reforming our nation’s health care system and ensuring that all children, indeed everyone in America, have access to the health coverage they need and deserve.

CareSource is among the largest non-profit, public sector health plans in America with a scalable model ideal for health care reform.

Author : Toni Bigby

Consumer Advocacy at CareSource Over 11 years of experience working with Ohio’s Medicaid program promoting the importance and availability of health care coverage for Ohio’s underserved populations; Responsible for working with statewide consumer advocacy groups to advance key initiatives to provide value-added benefits to CareSource members; Charged with engaging members to bring their voice to the forefront to inform internal business operations