Congressional Vote Today to Decide Direction Of Children's Coverage-- California's Healthy Families May Have to Disenroll Hundre

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expires in five days
• President Bush has vowed to veto legislation to extend the program
• Compromise $35 billion bill would cover one-half of remaining uninsured children

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote TODAY, Tuesday, September 25th, on the extension and expansion of the popular State Child Health Insurance Program. The vote will determine the future of the federal program, and of children's health coverage in general.

California's version of the program, Healthy Families, now covers 850,000 children. With extended federal funding, the program has the potential to meet its promise to cover the rest of California's uninsured children.

Unfortunately, the big vote today could send also signal of the reverse, and force the program to consider disenrolling hundreds of thousands of Californians children.

To avoid this, CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE TODAY, and urge them to support of SCHIP expansion, and to support an override of President Bush. To call the Capitol swtichboard using a toll-free number, call: 1-800-828-0498.

THE PROMISE: COVERING ALL KIDS; THE THREAT: KICKING KIDS OFF COVERAGE

Hundreds of thousands of children enrolled in Healthy Families could be abruptly dropped from health coverage as early as mid-November, unable to see a doctor, go to the hospitals and get medical treatments they need, if Congress does not vote to continue the State Children’s Health Insurance Program today with large margins.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, spoke eloquently on the Senate Floor about the importance of extending SCHIP on Monday, pointing out that private insurance is prohibitively expensive for many Americans, “These families are uninsured because they have no choice and their children have no choice.’’ Extending the SCHIP program, he said, could give those families necessary health coverage.