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As I write this the last day of September, Congress has allowed the Children’s Health Insurance Program to expire. CHIP is a low-cost health insurance program for children ages 0-18 whose family income is too high to qualify for Medicaid and don’t receive insurance from an employer. The last reauthorization in 2005 was a bipartisan effort which had broad support in both houses of Congress. It was not controversial. It was simply a common sense approach to take care of the medical needs of our future generation of Americans.

Idaho has projected that we will exhaust current CHIP funding by February 2018. In 2016, there were 35,964 Idaho children using CHIP, about 900 in Bonner County. Behind the policy are the faces of real children, our children, who need help when they get sick. It is that simple.

In Idaho, children whose families are between 134-190 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible. Cost sharing begins for families at or above 142 percent typically with $10-15 co-pay, just like commercial insurance. More than 70 percent of these families have a member who works full-time to support their family.

If you find this congressional neglect to be as cold-hearted as I do, I urge you to drop a note to Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch as well as Rep. Raúl Labrador and tell them to reauthorize CHIP. Or call the congressional switchboard and ask for them by name. One of their staff will take your message. For the sake of our children.

SCOTT DUNN, M.D.

Sandpoint