Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipProviding Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipHow to Watch CHILDREN IN CRISIS: The Story of CHIP
CHILDREN IN CRISIS: The Story of CHIP is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Buy Now
About the Show
CHILDREN IN CRISIS: The Story of CHIP explores the fascinating and timely creation of one of the most important children's health programs ever enacted – the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
In the early 1980s, the steel industry collapsed, leaving families without healthcare coverage for their children. Displaced steelworkers banded with church leaders in the hardest hit sections of Pittsburgh. The newly formed group began protesting at churches attended by bank and steel executives.
In 1984, 40 demonstrators gathered outside Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church offering dead fish to parishioners as an act of protest. Documentary Director Scott Galloway, then 16 years old, sat as his father, the senior pastor of the church, did not have the group arrested. Rather, he allowed a spokesperson two minutes to speak.
A grassroots program was created called The Caring Program. The goal was to provide healthcare for 200 children of working poor families. Pittsburgh native Mr. Rogers became a spokesperson and soon 200 children became 1,000. Churches, schools, businesses, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers joined the effort. The numbers reached tens of thousands, and the program spread throughout the region and into 25 other states.
Pennsylvania State Senator Allen Kukovich spent years lobbying for the program to cover the entire state. Finally, it passed when he was able to raise funds by successfully adding a two-cent tax to a pack of cigarettes. The result was Pennsylvania Blue CHIP. In 1997, CHIP became a federal program. It has since aided nearly 200 million children.