Costello & Oliver Op-Ed: A big step towards patient-centered healthcare

As published in the Chester County Times

https://chescotimes.com/?p=9857

Ensuring our families are receiving high quality and affordable healthcare is at the forefront of the minds of parents all across Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, healthcare often comes at a high price and many families have to struggle to pay skyrocketing healthcare costs. . That’s why we were both pleased that the House of Representatives passed a broad bipartisan measure that takes a historic step towards entitlement reform and ensures that  programs that so many rely on are secured for years to come.

H.R. 2: the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act is the first bipartisan structural entitlement reform Congress has agreed upon in decades. It was passed without having to resort to tax increases to pay for new spending. It is a big step towards patient-centered healthcare.

Included in this legislation is a measure that will greatly impact many families in Southeastern Pennsylvania – the 2 year extension of funding for CHIP. Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, better known as CHIP, has played a historic and groundbreaking role in providing healthcare to many families in Pennsylvania since 1992. Our model served as the prototype for the federal/state partnership program that was enacted into law in 1997. CHIP is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance coverage for children.

Today, CHIP continues to play a critical role in the healthcare landscape by filling the gap that Medicaid and employer-based healthcare coverage leaves behind. High out-of-pocket health plans are continuing to squeeze family incomes. One out of three Americans says those costs resulted in delayed medical care for a family member last year. CHIP is a proven program that has kept Pennsylvania kids healthy and has given peace of mind to thousands of working families across the Commonwealth.

The extension of CHIP means so much to Southeastern Pennsylvania families and children who rely on the insurance. Nationwide, it covers more than 8 million children in families that earn income above Medicaid eligibility levels. And in our region alone, nearly 50,000 children are covered by CHIP. As a two-time recipient of a federal outreach and enrollment grant, the Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County (MCHC) has led a partnership of 20 health and social service organizations located throughout Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties to drive children’s enrollment into health coverage.  Together, MCHC and its partners, enrolled nearly 12,450 into coverage, including CHIP.

By taking the steps to extend CHIP, rather than letting funding expire at the end of the year, the House was able to keep roughly 2.5 million children insured in first-rate care.

The alternative would have forced thousands off of their existing coverage and onto the Obamacare exchange.

This measure is a step in the right direction, but our work isn’t over. We encourage the Senate to take up this legislation so that we can send a commonsense and bipartisan bill to the President’s desk.

We are both committed to continuing to work in Congress and at the Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County to stand up for CHIP and healthcare for thousands of Pennsylvanians. We must ensure that Southeast Pennsylvania’s women, children, and families are able to achieve access to affordable and quality healthcare.

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Congressman Ryan Costello serves portions of Berks, Chester, Lebanon and Montgomery Counties

Alain Oliver serves as the Executive Director of the Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County (MCHC)