Urgent Action is Needed to Ensure that Legal Immigrant Children are Eligible for SCHIP Health Coverage.

LULAC members are urged to contact their Representatives and Congressional negotiators now!

Last Friday, Congressional negotiators struck a deal to increase funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $35 billion. Unfortunately, they also agreed to drop language from the bill that would have given states the option of offering Medicaid and SCHIP coverage to children and pregnant women who are legal U.S. residents.

People who enter the U.S. legally as permanent residents hold jobs, serve in the armed forces, and pay taxes. But since 1996, legal immigrants in low-income families have been barred from receiving Medicaid or SCHIP during their first five years in this country even if they met all the other requirements for the programs and had no other source for health care coverage. Ending this unfair treatment of tax-paying legal immigrants is of the utmost importance.

Latino children represent 38% of all of the uninsured children in the U.S. Members of Congress from both parties have recognized that preventing legal immigrants from receiving Medicaid and SCHIP is neither fair nor practical.

Please contact your representatives today and urge them to support the restoration of SCHIP benefits to legal immigrants.

Click here to Take Action Now!

In addition, please call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-4965 and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at (202) 224-3452 and urge them to include immigrant children in SCHIP.

Thank you.

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Rec'd email

40 MILLION LATINOS - .13% OF U.S. POPULATION.........38% WANT SCHIP!!!! ADD TO THAT 38% OF ALL THE ILLEGALS, AND THE TAXPAYERS ARE TAKING A HIT THAT WON'T WAIT......NOT TO MENTION THE ELDERLY, WHOSE BENEFITS ARE BEING REDUCED TO COVER THEM.

REC'D THIS EMAIL TWICE ALREADY TODAY!