Good news for America's children: the 111th Congress is acting on its first major legislation — extending children's access to needed health-care services, including dental care. Congress will soon be voting on State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) coverage for children from working families that don't have employer-paid medical and dental insurance, and can't afford to buy their own.
SCHIP expires at the end of March, and Congress is acting quickly to address this legislation so that children are not at risk for losing coverage. The SCHIP legislation includes important dental provisions, and we need your help to ensure that the dental benefit guarantee (CHIPRA/H.R. 976) approved by a bipartisan majority of Congress in 2007 is included.Please e-mail or call your representative and senators immediately. Write or say the following:Vote "yes" on the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (CHIPRA/H.R. 976) that includes the dental benefit guarantee. Thank you for making children's dental care a priority in health insurance coverage.
To e-mail your representatives and senators, go to www.congress.org and enter your zip code on the left hand side of the page. Follow the links to the contact information for each of your senators and representatives. Alternately, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Oral Health America improves public health by eliminating oral disease, especially for our most vulnerable citizens, by educating and empowering communities to provide access to care and advocating for policies that create oral health parity. To find out how you can support Oral Health America's advocacy initiatives, visit www.oralhealthamerica.org, or e-mail Elizabeth Rogers, Director of Communications and Public Affairs.
