As you may know, Congress has a deadline of September 30th to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by or millions of children in the United States risk losing health insurance. In California, federal SCHIP dollars fund roughly two-thirds of the cost of the Healthy Families Program which currently provides health care coverage to over 800,000 children in our state. Additionally, a robust SCHIP reauthorization is essential for any children's health expansion to happen in California this year.

The House and Senate have passed separate SCHIP bills and will work to reconcile the differences in those bills via conference committee once they have returned from summer recess on September 3. Therefore, NOW is a critical time to reach out to your Members of Congress and tell them to stand up and support a strong conference bill that does right by children.

Please act now! Send a letter to your Representative and your two Senators -- urge them to support a strong SCHIP conference bill. Click here to find your Congressional Representative. You can find a sample support letter here.

Thank you for your continued efforts to ensure that all children in California have access to quality, comprehensive, and affordable health coverage!