To: Our Governors, Senators, and Representatives in Congress

Letter Text:

We are nurses, pediatricians, and other health care professionals who take care of our country’s children. We are writing to urge you to stand up for full, permanent funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). We also ask you to do everything you can to make sure that no child is shut out of health care because of immigration status.

Every day, we try to make sure our patients get the health care they need. We take care of children – and their families – in both sickness and health. We give them routine care, including well-child visits and vaccinations, and help address acute medical issues. We also provide care for ongoing, chronic diseases – some life-threatening – in both outpatient and inpatient setting. We have the privilege of helping children from their very first breaths as newborns develop into the healthiest and happiest adults they can be.

In the past twenty years, our country has made real strides in ensuring that all children can get health care without throwing their families into debt or even bankruptcy. Today, less than five percent of the country’s children are uninsured. However, we still have a way to go – and we need to do much more to ensure that their parents and all others also get good, affordable care.

Let’s not go backwards. Earlier this year, people from across the country spoke out against efforts to eliminate health coverage for 22 to 24 million people. We united around a single, clear principle: no one should be left without health care.

But some conservative leaders are still trying to take health care away from millions – including children. Funding for CHIP runs out on September 30, and Congress has not taken action yet to renew it. Instead, as CHIP renewal makes its way through Congress, some conservative leaders may attach it to health care cuts – including tax cuts for wealthy corporations.

Even worse, President Trump has proposed cutting CHIP by 20 percent – all while demanding $1.6 billion for a deeply unpopular border wall.

Almost nine million children get their coverage through CHIP. Cuts would particularly affect children of color as, combined with Medicaid, CHIP covers more than half of children of color.

Instead of going backwards, CHIP should cover more children – not fewer. In its current form, CHIP excludes many children because they are immigrants. We need to end that discrimination immediately.

We treat children every day. We know what will happen if their health care is cut instead of expanded. We are asking you to join with us in standing up for health care. Do everything you can to make sure CHIP gets full, permanent funding and is open to all kids. And please ensure that nobody’s health care is traded away in the process, especially not to pay for tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

Finally, we know CHIP does not stand alone. The Affordable Care Act and Medicaid are still under threat of repeal, cuts, block-granting, and caps. These must be rejected, and health care for all must be protected.

Please sign onto this letter using the form provided and join your fellow health care professionals in sharing why we must stand up for CHIP and our patients and their families.* We'd also encourage you to write a personal comment about why CHIP matters to you personally. Here are some sample comments from signatories:

“CHIP helps all children in Vermont get they care they need, when and where they need it. If children and families are forced to delay care because they are concerned about medical bills, my patients and our health care system will pay the price: kids will suffer completely preventable and treatable illnesses, and our health care system will foot the bill for costly medical complications of otherwise avoidable problems.”
     – Lindsay London, pediatric primary care RN from Burlington, Vermont

“I have personally witnessed parents grappling with the serious and even life-threatening injury and disease of their child. As both a nurse and a mother, I can state unequivocally that in a humane and successful society, no parent should ever have to worry about costs of hospitalizations, surgeries, medications, outpatient care, or in-home support on top of the fear they are already experiencing as they care for their sick kid.”
     – Elizabeth Deutsch, Vermont RN who has worked with children and families in critical or emergency care for over a decade

“As a nurse and a parent, full and permanent funding of CHIP is imperative to the development of vulnerable low-income children who do not qualify for Medicaid. Health care is a human right, and it is the responsibility of Congress to ensure these children are not devastated by further cuts to already limited resources.”
     – Kendra Ziegler Knight, Maryland RN specializing in cardiac critical care

“As an RN who works in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit I can attest to the crucial need for CHIP to be fully funded. The majority of these infants upon discharge will require lots of medical follow up. Many are on permanent medications which are very expensive and even with insurance their parents would have a hard time paying for them. For the working poor who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford their children's care the only hope for them is CHIP. We owe that to the innocent children with medical needs.”
     – Sandra Falwell RNC-NIC, District of Columbia RN

*By signing this form, you agree to allow us to share your name, title, city, state, and comments with elected officials, the media, and the public as part of this campaign.