For Immediate Release
Contact: Michele Stillwell-Parvensky, 510-663- 1294
The California Children’s Health Coverage Coalition—comprised of United Ways of California,
Children’s Defense Fund—California, The Children’s Partnership, Children Now, and California
Coverage and Health Initiatives—released this statement in response to Governor Brown’s
budget proposal released today:
Despite changes at the federal level designed to weaken the Affordable Care Act and Congress’
failure to renew funding for CHIP to date, Governor Brown’s budget proposal maintains critical
funding for children’s health coverage, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance
Program (CHIP) – together known in California as Medi-Cal. We appreciate Governor Brown’s
recognition of the great importance of children’s health coverage and the grave consequences
of denying coverage or care to children and their families.
The budget proposal underscores the importance of immediate federal action to extend CHIP
funding, which funds coverage for 2 million California children. Despite bipartisan agreement on
a five year extension for CHIP, Congress has failed to take action to extend funding, which
ended more than 100 days ago. The budget proposal notes that coverage for 32,000 pregnant
women and children in California will be at risk if CHIP funding is not extended. We urge
California to protect CHIP coverage for all children and pregnant women, regardless of federal
action.
Currently, 97 percent of California’s children have health coverage. We must protect the
substantial progress we have made in covering children and building a healthy future workforce
for our state. We look forward to working with the Administration and the Legislature in the
upcoming budget deliberations to ensure our children stay covered, and that the state makes
investments to guarantee children have access to needed health services.
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