Congressman Henry Cuellar today joined an overwhelming, bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives to send the bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2009 to President Obama’s desk.

Congressman Cuellar was an original cosponsor of the bill, which the U.S. House previously passed in slightly different form last month.

The legislation will renew the CHIP program through fiscal year 2013.  It will protect the seven million children currently covered by CHIP from losing access to health care, and it will extend coverage to an additional four million low-income children – including 490,000 in Texas – who are eligible for CHIP but not yet enrolled.

CHIP is especially crucial in Texas, where 21.4% of all children have no health insurance – the worst rate of coverage in America today.

“Growing up as the son of migrant parents, I was among the millions of American children with no health insurance,” Congressman Cuellar said.  “I got lucky.  Even without health insurance, I grew up into a healthy adult.  But I could just as easily have ended up going untreated for a chronic disease or serious injury.  It is unacceptable that 1.4 million Texas kids continue to bear that risk today.”

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program was launched in 1997 through a bipartisan effort by the Republican Congress and the Democratic White House.  It established a federal-state partnership to provide health coverage to children from working families that earned too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but too little to afford private health insurance.

In Texas, SCHIP provides benefits to families with household earnings between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty line, or between $22,050 and $44,100 for a family of four in 2009.  Participating families pay enrollment fees and co-pays for coverage at costs that vary based on their income level.

As a legislator who knows firsthand the struggles of uninsured families, Congressman Cuellar has long been a pioneer on issues of children’s health insurance.  While serving in the Texas State House of Representatives, he authored legislation to establish Texas’ first CHIP pilot program, which was launched at Farias Elementary School in Laredo.  The program proved so successful that it served as the basis for Texas’ statewide CHIP program, which Congressman Cuellar cosponsored as a state legislator.

Cuellar added, “In these difficult economic times, as millions of Texas families struggle with job losses and pay cuts, CHIP is more important than ever.  For families living on the financial edge, CHIP is a critical source of care, support, and peace of mind.”

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