Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) would like to publicly thank the U.S. Senate for passing a bill that extends funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), better known as ARKids First here in Arkansas. Arkansas’s delegation, both Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, voted for the measure. The vote follows passage of identical legislation in the House and demonstrates that members of Congress overwhelmingly support the CHIP program and understand it is vital to keeping kids across the country healthy.

“When children’s health was on the line, the U.S. Senate stepped up for millions of kids,” said Rich Huddleston, executive director of AACF. “Today’s vote demonstrates the overwhelming popularity of CHIP and for getting kids the health care coverage they need to succeed.”

CHIP has a long history of bipartisan support, providing coverage for children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but don’t have access to affordable health care. ARKids First has been a huge success here in the state, dropping the uninsured rate for children from over 22 percent in 1997 to about six percent today. As a result of CHIP’s implementation, coverage rates for kids across the country are at a historic high of close to 93 percent.

“CHIP is life changer for 60,000 Arkansas children,” said Huddleston. “Today’s vote demonstrates that Congress understand the impact this critical program has on millions of families and we will look to lawmakers to continue to demonstrate their support in 2017 when the program is up for renewal.”