Letter: Congress can save CHIP

Sen. Hatch’s legacy has been put at risk by radicals in the House, who have been unwilling to reauthorize a program that Hatch helped create — the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP expired last fall and has been on life support since then. This has placed nearly 20,000 Utah kids at risk of losing health care.

CHIP has been instrumental in providing quality and affordable health care for poor children for over two decades. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. A nonpartisan congressional analysis recently found that reauthorizing CHIP for 10 years will save $6 billion and insure 6 million kids. There is no good reason to play politics with children’s health.

As Hatch enters the final year of his storied career, Utah’s delegation should honor his decades of achievement by voting to reauthorize CHIP as Hatch proposed — without cutting health care for other needy individuals.

David Billings

Salt Lake City

CREDIT: David Billings, Deseret News Hive