SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA (April 15, 2015) – Yesterday evening, the Senate passed H.R.2 with a strong bipartisan vote (92-8). The bill package extends funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for an additional two years and also includes several Medicare provisions such as modifications to Medicare’s physician payments. Among other CHIP items that will benefit children and families, the bill package also authorizes Express Lane Eligibility (ELE) through 2017 and extends funding for home visiting programs, family-to-family information centers, and community health centers.
“We thank Congress for building upon their longstanding and overwhelmingly bipartisan support for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides 8.4 million children with the health coverage they need to get a healthy start in life. The program has played an enormous role in cutting in half the number of uninsured children in California and across the country. Now it can continue to better the lives of children,” said Wendy Lazarus, Founder and Co-President of The Children’s Partnership.
“The bill’s CHIP package also prioritizes other extremely beneficial measures for children, including the commonsense Express Lane Eligibility model, which has proven to fast-track enrollment and reduce unnecessary paperwork. Successfully tested in California, Express Lane is now used by many states because it is such an effective enrollment strategy for families.”
California is slated to receive $450–$550 million per year in additional federal CHIP funding from the bill’s passage. The Governor did not assume these dollars in his January budget proposal and a budget revision will be presented in May.
“We thank Governor Brown for his support of CHIP. And now the availability of these new federal dollars offers the Governor and California legislators an opportunity to make smart and needed investments to improve access to essential health care for more than half of all children in California,” said Lazarus. “With severe access problems facing many children, including those who today go without needed dental care, we will be looking to our leaders in Sacramento to ensure that all children have easy and timely access to quality health and dental care.”
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