WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today joined health professionals, parents, and advocates at Greater Portland Health in Portland to underscore the importance of fully funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and reauthorizing funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Federal funding for CHIP expired at the end of September, putting millions of low-income children across the country at risk of losing their health coverage. Funding for FQHCs is also currently in jeopardy, as Congress has not acted to reauthorize the Community Health Centers Fund, which provides 70 percent of all federal funding for FQHCs across the country.

            “Access to top-quality health services helps people care for their families and builds a healthy Maine community,” Senator King said. “Right now, Congress’s neglect to fully fund CHIP and community health centers puts families in our state at an unnecessary risk. This is an abdication of our responsibility to the people we serve. For the hundreds of thousands of Maine people who use these essential services, and for millions more across the country, I urge my colleagues to act now and fund CHIP and Federally Qualified Health Centers.”

CHIP provides low-cost health insurance to children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but are not able to afford private health insurance. In Maine, CHIP covers 23,000 children, and 9 million children nationwide are covered through the program. In some states, including Maine, CHIP also covers pregnant women.

Greater Portland Health is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides health care to the greater Portland community and helps uninsured and medically underserved people access the care they need. Senator King is a strong supporter of FQHCs and their mission to provide quality, affordable primary care services to more than 200,000 Maine people.

Before the discussion at Greater Portland Health, Senator King visited Dorris Farrar, Maine’s oldest resident, at the Hawthorne House in Freeport. Born in Bar Harbor in 1906, Dorris is a 111-year-old supercentenarian. Senator King visited with Dorris and other residents of the Hawthorne House following a private lunch with Dorris.

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