Congress is treading dangerously close to severing one of the nation’s most beneficial healthcare programs that is widely used in Alabama.

Officially known as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, the federally funded program ensures reliable healthcare for thousands of American children.

In Alabama, about 83,400 children and teenagers benefit from the program under the name of All Kids and another 74,900 children on Medicaid. Unlike other Medicaid recipients, children under CHIP are 100 percent funded with no state contribution.

For Alabamians, All Kids is a familiar and effective health insurance program that requires a premium from parents with higher income, but still amounts to affordable coverage over other plans.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a refunding bill that would give the program five more years and sent that to the Senate. But that’s where politics get in the way.

Some of the House Republicans decided to partly pay for the extension by cutting a public health program created under former President Barack Obama’s health care law, and by raising Medicare premiums on upper-income recipients, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Many members of the Senate are not happy about that part of the House’s effort.

As a consequence, the bill is lingering in the Senate with time running out. Letters from the state of Alabama are expected to be mailed to recipients that funding is about to run out and that coverage for children under All Kids would stop by Feb. 1. Children on Medicaid cannot lose their coverage by federal law, but without the funding renewal from Congress the state would be stuck with making increased payments.

Alabama has been struggling to keep its Medicaid program intact because it falls under the strained General Fund budget. State lawmakers have battled through several sessions over how to get fresh revenue into the budget, but thus far have failed.

With a major election year looming in 2018, the issue could become more complex in Alabama because of the reluctance by lawmakers to raise taxes or move dollars around to cover financial shortfalls. The easy solution is for Congress to push forward with extending the funding for CHIP. Philosophical differences in this case need to be put aside so that children can continue with what has been recognized as effective health coverage. No matter what side of the aisle federal lawmakers sit, the need to care for American children should be a priority at all times. Keeping well funded health coverage available is an investment in everyone’s future in the United States.

We encourage members of Alabama’s congressional delegation to do their part to ensure that the funding measure for CHIP is accomplished in a timely matter. Too many children and families depend on this service to be left without coverage.