WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Steny Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, David Trone, and Glenn Ivey (all D-Md.) today announced $2.5 million in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services funding to bolster school-based health services for Maryland children. 

Made available through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the federal dollars will be used to enhance facilities, recruit health care providers, and develop systems to further reinvest in growing school-based health care offerings for students. School-based health care allows children and adolescents – especially those in underserved communities – to access critical primary, preventive, mental, and behavioral health care in convenient, trusted settings, and has been shown to have positive impacts on both the health and academic outcomes of students.

“Investing in the health and wellbeing of our children is an investment in our future,” said the lawmakers. “Team Maryland has long fought to secure stronger, more expansive health benefits for children, particularly through Medicaid and CHIP, and this federal funding will help further that mission.”