October 2, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Wende Gozan Brown at 646-216-3329; wbrown@childrensrights.org.
In response to Congress’ failure to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Sandy Santana, executive director of Children’s Rights, released the following statement:
“Congress placed young lives at risk over the weekend when it failed to reauthorize CHIP by the September 30 deadline. Nearly nine million children who rely on this program for critical health care services now face an uncertain future as states are forced to develop contingency plans. Unless Congress acts soon, millions of children will be unable to get checkups, immunizations, life-saving medications, dental and vision care and other vital services. Most states are now projected to drain their CHIP funds by March 2018 and several are expected to run out of funding as early as the end of this year. We call on Congress to put children first and reauthorize CHIP as a stand-alone program.”