Alliance for a Healthier Generation Statement: Reauthorize CHIP

Our organization was founded on the core value that all kids deserve a chance to be healthy. It’s a simple, incontrovertible premise that is challenged every day by the barriers that some children—and not others—face because of their families’ economic status.

We work day in and day out to ensure kids can grow up to reach their fullest potential. This is a value that folks on all sides of the aisle can easily get behind.

Yet, when Congress lets the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expire, something genuinely nonpartisan becomes a topic for debate.

CHIP is a popular program that provides essential health care for millions of kids who otherwise cannot afford it (one out of ten kids nationwide).

The consequences of letting this program expire are devastating: it will prevent the children who depend on CHIP from getting everything from routine checkups and immunizations to critical physical and mental health services.

We must not put the health of our children at risk in this way.

CHIP must be reauthorized.

Howell Wechsler, EdD, MPH

Chief Executive Officer

Alliance for a Healthier Generation