Nearly 9 million youngsters and 370,000 pregnant women nationwide receive care because of CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. But, officials in nearly a dozen states are preparing to notify families that this crucial health insurance program for low-income children is running out of money for the first time since its creation two decades ago, putting coverage for many at risk by the end of the year because Congress missed a Sept. 30 deadline to extend funding. Many states have enough money to keep their individual programs afloat for at least a few months, but Arizona, California, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon and the District of Columbia will run out of CHIP money by Dec. 31 if lawmakers do not act. Others will start to exhaust resources the following month. Tell your elected officials to put politics aside and extend CHIP funding immediately.