“In Washington state we are making tremendous progress toward ensuring a healthier population with access to better, more affordable health care at lower cost. This week Congress gave us more tools to continue that important work.
“The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act extended the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program for two years. The bill also included a two-year extension of the federal Secure Rural Schools program that had expired last year.
“My office worked with congressional leadership and members of our Delegation to ensure that language was included in the bill to provide adequate funding for Washington’s Apple Health for Kids program. Through this important program our state has successfully provided thousands of Washington’s low-income children with access to health care, and will continue to do so. I was also proud to work with my colleagues in the bipartisan Western Governors Association to help win an extension of the federal Secure Rural Schools program, the lapse in which was hurting Washington’s rural schools and local governments.
“I want to thank members of the Washington Congressional Delegation for their support and their work to get this done.”
Governor Inslee wrote to the Washington Congressional Delegation earlier this year pressing for swift extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.