Four-year-old Alexandria Reid is just one of the 14,500 children in Maine currently covered by a public health insurance program that could soon be cut back. Alexandria’s mother works full-time as an administrative assistant at a small Maine bank. While her employer provides health insurance for her, Alexandria’s mother cannot afford to pay the premiums for her young daughter, who suffers from a neurological disorder and requires significant medical care.

One of the first bills that I sponsored when I came to the Senate 10 years ago was the legislation that established the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide health care coverage for low-income children, such as Alexandria. Their parents cannot afford health insurance, yet make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. Since 1997, SCHIP has contributed to a one-third decline in the uninsured rate of low-income children. Today, more than 6 million children in the United States receive health care coverage through SCHIP.

Over the last decade, SCHIP – the largest expansion of public health insurance since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 – has proven to be remarkably effective. According to a recent assessment by the nonpartisan Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, “While the coverage news for the nation is generally bleak, the story for children’s health coverage stands apart. Of all the health reform efforts, covering children has been resoundingly successful. Since its creation, SCHIP has partnered with Medicaid to help ensure that children have the health care coverage that they need.”

But this progress is threatened: the federal law authorizing SCHIP is set to expire at the end of this coming September. Until SCHIP is reauthorized, no new federal funds will be available. As Congress works to update the SCHIP law, it is imperative that we not only continue this important program, but also strengthen it. We have done much to help America’s families obtain the health care they need, but there is much more that we can do.

Maine is one of 14 states that will face shortfalls in SCHIP funding this year. I am pleased to be an original co-sponsor of the bipartisan ‘Keep Children Covered Act’ introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia to shore up these shortfalls to ensure that children currently enrolled in the program do not lose their coverage. Senator Rockefeller is a national leader in health policy, and I am honored to join him this year as the new co-chairman of the Alliance for Health Reform, a nonprofit organization that is an invaluable resource for information and insight about one of the most pressing issues facing our nation.

In addition to the looming shortfall crisis, Maine – despite our rank among the top four states in reducing the number of uninsured children – still has more than 20,000 children who don’t have coverage. Nationally, about nine million children remain uninsured. The SCHIP reauthorization this year presents us with an opportunity to renew our commitment to meeting the health care needs of our children and families.

I have also introduced legislation, the Access to Affordable Health Care Act, which builds upon the success of the SCHIP program and gives states a number of new tools to increase participation. The bill authorizes new grants for states and nonprofit organizations to conduct innovative outreach and enrollment efforts to ensure that all eligible children – including those 20,000 children here in Maine – are covered.

States would also have the option of covering parents of children who are enrolled in SCHIP. This legislation will help to ensure that the entire family receives the health care it needs.

SCHIP has helped the nation move closer to the goal of quality health care to all children. As Congress moves forward with reauthorization, I am committed to seeing that this essential program has the necessary funding needed so that the progress we have made during the past 10 years will continue into the future.