We urge you to call and/or email (click here) your Member of Congress and US Senators right now and ask them to protect children’s health coverage!  And please forward this email to your friends and colleagues!

Medicaid and Child Health Plus are the foundation of children’s health coverage in New York. Thanks in large part to Medicaid and Child Health Plus, New York is experiencing a historic low in uninsured kids; almost 98% of New York’s children — our children — have health insurance.  We cannot afford to let this remarkable accomplishment be undermined by a radical restructuring of Medicaid, but Congress is poised to do just that. 

Some members of Congress are eager to quickly repeal aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gut Medicaid.  The current proposal will cap the amount the federal government will pay New York to care for 6 million people covered by Medicaid, including over 2 million children, almost 2.5 million parents and other adults, 700,000 individuals with disabilities, and nearly 700,000 seniors.  It’s hard to imagine a more fundamental or disruptive change to this pillar of our nation‘s health care system, a program that has been a lifeline for children, families and communities for over 50 years.

 Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where the Medicaid changes will be considered, will not have even one hearing before marking up this bill as early as this week. They will not learn what their own agencies – the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) – have to say.  And neither will the rest of us.

Please call and/or email (click here) your Member of Congress and US Senators right now and ask them to:

  1. Ensure that children do not lose health coverage and
  2. Understand and make public the ramifications of these proposals before voting on them. 

Health care for children is too important.

Sincerely,

Kate Breslin
President & CEO