Time is running out for more than 470,000 children in Florida who rely on the Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as KidCare, to finance their health coverage. If Congress does not act to extend funding for the program before Oct. 1, working families who depend on the program will lose access to affordable and quality health coverage for their children.
As a pediatrician-in-training, I am urging our federal legislators to invest in children’s health and extend CHIP funding without delay.
CHIP is a bipartisan program that works for more than 8 million children across the country. Since its beginning in 1997, CHIP has worked with Medicaid to cut in half the rate of uninsured children, helping to make today’s uninsured rate among U.S. children the lowest level ever recorded.
Health insurance plays a vital role in promoting children’s lifelong health. For children without insurance, the health consequences are detrimental: Uninsured children are three times more likely than children with insurance to lack access to a needed prescription medicine, five times more likely to have an unmet need for medical care and 30 percent less likely to receive medical treatment if they are injured.
Further, uninsured children are less likely to receive preventive care than children with insurance. In fact, uninsured children are over 25 percent less likely to have routine well-child checkups, a practice critical to monitoring their health, growth and development.
Research has shown that children with insurance do better in school because they are better equipped to do things like attend school regularly, see the chalkboard, hear the teacher and participate in classroom activities. In addition, recent studies suggest that giving kids access to coverage boosts their future earning potential for decades, therefore increasing their future tax contributions and helping to pay back the government for some of its investment.
Unlike many private insurance plans, which are based on the health needs of adults, CHIP is designed with children in mind, offering affordable plans (out-of-pocket costs are capped at 5 percent of family income) with benefits that are age-appropriate. CHIP plans also offer appropriate networks of pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists and surgical specialists, as well as children’s hospitals, which helps ensure that all children, including those with special health-care needs, are able to access the kind of care they need when they need it.
CHIP keeps kids healthy by covering doctor visits, immunizations, care for coughs and colds, lab work, X-rays and hospital stays. In addition to general medical and dental benefits, Florida KidCare includes inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services, services for speech, hearing and language disorders, physical and occupational therapy, and more.
I join pediatricians and child-health advocates in urging our federal legislators to act now and fund CHIP for four more years. Even though funding for CHIP doesn’t run out until September, like many other states that are wrapping up their legislative sessions, Florida’s Legislature is scheduled to finish its term on May 1. Without guidance from the federal government, the future of the program in Florida could be in jeopardy. Families should not face uncertainty when it comes to their children’s health, and state governments should not be left questioning CHIP’s future.
As a Florida constituent, I am calling on Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio and Reps.Corrine Brown, Alan Grayson and Daniel Webster to renew CHIP funding. The health of children in Florida and across the country depends on our ability to keep the program strong, allowing it to continue on its proven track record of success.
by 
March 26, 2015
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