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Senator spoke at Akron Children's Hospital Mahoning Valley
BOARDMAN
Health care coverage for more than 6,000 Mahoning Valley children will be at risk if Congress fails to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, D-Ohio.
“Extending funding for the program, set to expire in September, is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do for children and states and the nation,” said Brown, speaking Monday at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley, urging Congress to act on the funding issue.
“We can’t turn our backs on health care coverage that allows children to grow into healthy, active adults,” said the senator, who hopes for action on the funding extension this week.
Brown said CHIP, created in 1997, has provided affordable, comprehensive health care for children who might not otherwise have access to coverage.
Brown said CHIP is aimed at helping parents who have jobs that pay them too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to enable them to afford insurance.
He urged Congress to extend program funding for four years, not two as he said some have suggested, and to do it quickly.
It is not only necessary for recipients, he said, but states need to know the funding levels and duration so they can plan their budgets.
Brown was joined on the podium by two mothers, Ericka Flaherty of Youngstown and Jessica Miller of Lisbon, who both said CHIP enabled them to get medical care needed by their children without putting their families deeply in debt.
Flaherty, who has five children, including a set of twins, said her youngest, now 3, was born at 27 weeks gestation and spent “four months and a day” in Akron Children’s neonatal intensive-care unit.
She said her child continues to have medical problems that require him to be seen by a lung specialist, a neurologist and an ophthalmologist and receive shots during the during the cold and flu season to prevent the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which she said costs $4,000 to $5,000 for each shot.
Flaherty said she and her husband, who works full time and will soon graduate with a registered nursing degree, would not have been able to afford the care their son received through CHIP.
Miller found herself in a similar financial situation when her son, 4, developed laryngomalacia, an obstruction of his airway, and then Type 1 diabetes that requires insulin and hospitalizations.
She said CHIP provided the care her son needed that they couldn’t have afforded.
Akron Children’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Rob McGregor, said he supports quick action on extending CHIP funding.
“CHIP works from a medical and financial standpoint. Without CHIP, we will backslide,” Dr. McGregor said.