The Children's Health Insurance Program is that rarest of government creations -- a joint federal-state effort that actually works to reduce the number of uninsured children in our country. No wonder Congressional leaders are trying to expand it -- and the White House is trying to dismantle it.
The question for us is this: will our Congressman join the bi-partisan effort to strengthen CHIP? Or will he stick with the short-sighted ideological opposition of the Bush Administration and leave millions of children without health insurance?
A decade ago, then-Texas Governor George W. Bush dragged his feet while other states rushed to create CHIP programs and draw down federal matching funds. He preferred costlier private insurance plans that offered less coverage. He still does.
Where does Congressman Mike McCaul stand? Contact him today and tell him you support the bi-partisan plan to authorize $35 billion in new CHIP funding over the next five years -- which is what we'll spend (officially) in Iraq over the next three months. And the CHIP funds will actually do some good, covering an additional 3.2 million children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance.
