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Prevent Blindness supports CHIP extension
Prevent Blindness announced that it is urging Congress to enact long-term legislation for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Congress is considering legislation that includes an extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for 6 years, through 2023, so children continue to have access to vision care services, Prevent Blindness said in a press release.
“For months, families with children who rely on CHIP have patiently waited for Congress to safeguard their access to affordable, sight-saving care through a long-term extension of CHIP, which expired on Sept. 30, 2017,” Prevent Blindness said in the release.
Jeff Todd, chief operating officer of Prevent Blindness, explained in an interview with Primary Care Optometry News that CHIP provides matching funds to states to ensure that all children have access to health care.
“The program was specifically developed to help those children in families who may not qualify for Medicaid but are unable to afford health insurance,” Todd said.
He said that vision care is considered a covered benefit for all state CHIP programs.
“While covered services vary across states, offering comprehensive vision care ensures that children receive the appropriate vision screenings and eye exams they need to detect, diagnose, and treat vision problems,” he said.
“We owe it to our kids to do everything possible to help them at a stage when vision problems are considered to be the most treatable and correctable, for healthy vision in the future,” Todd added. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO