By creating reliable, affordable coverage options that don’t disappear when a parent becomes sick or loses a job, the legislation protects and strengthens the well-being and financial stability of our nation’s children and their families.

The key provisions for families and children include:

• Makes coverage more affordable for middle class families by boosting their bargaining power through new health exchanges and providing tax credits to those who need extra help buying insurance.
• Provides Medicaid coverage to low-income families, allowing children and parents to be covered together.
• Continues the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which has successfully worked in partnership with Medicaid to drive down the number of uninsured children to its lowest level in over 20 years.
• Ends insurance companies’ discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Starting right away, children who have insurance can’t be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition.
• Allows parents to keep their college-age children (up to age 26) on their family health plans.
• Requires insurance companies to provide pediatrician-recommended care for children so they can grow and thrive.

With health reform finally past its last big hurdle toward enactment, efforts cannot start soon enough to make sure it delivers for America’s families who will be expecting results. As a first win for families, states can reach out to the five million uninsured children who already qualify for Medicaid or CHIP coverage to help sign them up right now.

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