The Arc supports the House of Representatives’ bipartisan policy agreement to extend the funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP is critical to providing health insurance to over 9 million children in the United States and has helped to reduce the uninsured population of children to historic low levels. It is urgent that Congress act to extend the funding for CHIP before states exhaust current funding. If the program expires, states will be forced to send notifications to families about pending loss of health insurance coverage for their children. These notifications and the potential loss of health coverage will create anxiety and concern among families who depend on CHIP for affordable health insurance coverage.

The Arc is concerned that the House is preparing to move forward with bipartisan agreement on the policy but strong disagreement on provisions for how the bill will be paid for. On principle, The Arc does not support provisions that pay for bills that hurt Medicaid or Medicare beneficiaries or beneficiaries of other important programs when extending equally critical programs. We urge the House of Representatives to continue to seek provisions with bipartisan support to pay for the CHIP funding extension. It is critical that Congress act to maintain this program and ensure that children continue to have access to the health insurance they depend on.