Important Anniversary for Children's Health

On February 4, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) to help families find affordable health coverage for their children.
This federal reauthorization ensured that children will continue to get the health insurance coverage
they need to stay healthy. Federal reauthorization of CHIPRA would not have been possible without
the leadership and strong support of Rhode Island's Congressional delegation.

Thanks to CHIPRA, almost all states protected children from coverage cuts, close to half of all states moved forward to cover more children, and almost half of all states expanded eligibility or made it easier to enroll and keep coverage.

Now is the time to call on our leaders to continue support for children's health coverage. Families are facing even tougher economic circumstances than ever before. CHIP and Medicaid offer a vital lifeline to America's children, especially as families experience increased unemployment and underemployment, often with the loss of health insurance benefits through an employer.

A strong federal-state partnership enables all children to have the
health coverage they need to grow and learn.

Thanks to the strong federal and state partnership to fund children' s health insurance, Rhode Island has been able to provide RIte Care health coverage to children and families. RIte Care has been a model children's health insurance program that has achieved positive outcomes. CHIPRA and increased federal support for Medicaid through the economic stimulus package helped Rhode Island's leaders preserve RIte Care coverage for children, parents and pregnant women. In addition, Rhode Island restored RIte Care premiums to more affordable levels.

Rhode Island has been a leader in the nation in terms of children's health insurance coverage. Working together we can make continued progress to enroll eligible children in RIte Care and take advantage of the strong reauthorization of CHIP that occurred one year ago.