Pallone Lauds Bill to Extend CHIP Funding at PSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. hosted an event at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick to celebrate the 17th anniversary of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) being signed into law and promote a bill he wrote to extend funding for the program, which is due to expire after September of next year.
Congressman Pallone, a senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Ranking Member of the Health Subcommittee, was joined by New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill; New Jersey Senator Joseph Vitale; Amy Mansue, President and CEO of PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital; Dr. Meg Fisher, Pediatrician; Cecilia Zalkind, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New Jersey; Linda Sloan Locke of March of Dimes; and a family from Sayreville who is benefiting from CHIP.
“All around the country, more than 8 million children, as well as pregnant women, are benefitting from the health insurance coverage that CHIP provides, including 808,000 children right here in New Jersey through our FamilyCare program,” said Pallone. “Unfortunately, funding for CHIP will expire after September of 2015 unless Congress acts, so I have introduced legislation that would provide states with four more years of funding to ensure our young people will have access to the care they need.”
“Without the financial support from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, thousands of families would be unable to receive life-altering care,” said Amy B. Mansue, President and CEO of Children’s Specialized Hospital. “We applaud the tremendous effort of Congressman Pallone for his foresight and continued commitment to the health and well-being of our most fragile and medically complex children.”
Congressman Pallone was among the original authors of the 1997 CHIP program, and his legislation – the CHIP Extension and Improvement Act of 2014 – makes a number of program improvements to reduce bureaucracy and increase state flexibility in addition to extending the program’s funding. For additional background information, click here. For a section-by-section summary, click here. For the bill’s text, click here.