Children in Texas lose out again because of legislative politics

So the Texas Legislative session for 2009 is over, and any improvement in CHIPS, the Children’s Health Insurance Program has been lost AGAIN. With the federal Governments stimulus package offering additional funds, and with the legislature having the opportunity to revise a variety of aspects of the CHIPS program to improve health care for the uninsured children of Texas, it was left to politics and the long totally frustrating debate over Voter ID’s to kill all proposed CHIPS legislation. After 6 months of haggling, this legislature dropped the ball.

Several pieces of legislation were drafted to expand coverage eligibility, increase the the enrollment period from 6 months to 12 months, and raise the income eligibility level from 200% to 300% of the Federal poverty level, none of these were ever finally approved by both houses.

The UMW and Texas Impact lobbied tirelessly for a new CHIPS deal, only to see their efforts fail. This is an outrage!!! We need to mobilize every Methodist and put sustained pressure on every legislator reminding them that their vacillation has cost many the opportunity for improved health care.

Let us know what you think can be done to keep this issue alive. What action would you and your congregation take, and how can we keep this issue alive for another 18 months while the legislature is fast asleep!!