Editorial Boards Call on Congress to Fund Children’s Health Insurance

Republicans in Congress are facing a heap of unfinished business, including a long-term funding plan for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health care to nearly 9 million kids nationwide. Editorial boards across the country are urging Republicans to stop playing political games with children’s health care and work towards a stable funding solution for the program before millions of children start losing their health coverage. Voters won’t forget the lawmakers who put lining the pockets of the wealthy few ahead of access to health care for millions of American children.

See below for coverage:

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Restore long-term funding for children’s health programs

“Leaving CHIP in budget limbo subject to continuing partisan slingshots is a disgrace. Congress must act, in a bipartisan manner, on a clean compromise that assures long-term funding, and it must do so without delay.”

The Boston Globe: It’s time for Congress to act on CHIP and DACA

“Republicans have been declaring for months that they intend to find a solution on both CHIP and DACA. The time has come to make good on those pledges — and before the impending midterm elections make any legislative action uncertain. And if they don’t? Well, then Republicans will have provided voters with yet another reason why don’t deserve to stay in power.”

Easton Express-Times (PA): Partisan harping over CHIP program is shameful

“Democrats and Republicans will always disagree on budgets, but the rationalizations must cease when it comes to health care for working-class kids and their siblings-to-be in the womb. If millionaires are deserving of huge tax cuts, people on the other end deserve some help to keep their kids healthy. Majority Republicans will live with this shame and the consequences if they can’t find common ground for a long-term CHIP fix, as the calendar flips to 2018.”

The Daily Nonpareil (IA): Children in need

“Roughly 60,000 low-income children in the state await a decision by Congress on the Children’s Health Insurance Program. As lawmakers prepare to return to Washington D.C., it’s important that they take the steps to continue a worthwhile program.

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“It’s imperative that Congress acts to save CHIP — and hawk-i with it — by funding the program. Both at the federal and state level, the assistance for children has helped countless families.”

The Inquirer and Mirror (MA): CHIP chop?

“Congressional lawmakers must shed their myopic vision and instead adopt the perspective of their predecessors, understanding that providing funding for children’s preventive health practices amounts to one of the best returns on investment they are likely to see in their careers. Perhaps if senators and representatives were in danger of losing their own federally sponsored health coverage they would feel more inclined to act on behalf of the millions covered by the CHIP program, all of whom make a fraction of a federal lawmaker’s annual salary.”