Hillary Clinton joined teamed up with Republican former Sen. Bill Frist in a New York Times op-ed published in Friday’s edition that urged Congress to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Invoking her new status as a grandmother, Clinton wrote that she and Frist were “concerned that gridlock in Washington and unrelated disputes over the Affordable Care Act could prevent an extension of the program.”
“We may be from different political parties, but both of us have dedicated our careers to supporting the health of children and their families,” Clinton and Frist wrote. “This isn’t about politics. It’s about our kids and our nation’s future. What could be more important than that?”
The CHIP program was enacted in 1997, while Clinton was first lady and Frist was senator from Tennessee. It currently provides around 10 million children and families who don’t qualify them for Medicaid with affordable health coverage. CHIP funding currently runs out in September.
Senate Democrats have started their own push to reauthorize the program through 2019, but some are concerned current gridlock in Washington will make it difficult to pass the plan.
“While reauthorization is not due until the end of September, Congress needs to act now” wrote Clinton and Frist. “With more than four-fifths of state legislatures adjourning by the end of June, lack of action and clarity from Washington by then will make budgeting and planning virtually impossible.”