I admit to diarying about this yesterday, where you can find additional background on this potential crisis, but there's more news: Jay Rockefeller has issued a statement saying he'll try his best to save CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program, in the final fight between the Senate and House versions of the bill. Harold Myerson of the Washington Post has also written up the controversy.

Rockefeller: Proposal to Repeal CHIP Is 'Harmful'and 'Intolerable'
By Mike Lillis 11/4/09

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who last month salvaged the Children's Health Insurance Program in the Senate's health reform bill, just issued a statement condemning the House legislation for proposing to terminate the program.

"As health reform moves forward, we need to make sure children can keep their CHIP coverage and not be forced into untested private coverage," Rockefeller said.

The Congressional Budget Office has been very clear that replacing CHIP with private health coverage will lead some children to lose their health coverage altogether, which is harmful and intolerable. Health care reform should improve the coverage children have - not take their coverage away.

I have spent my entire career working to protect children and other vulnerable populations, and will keep fighting to protect CHIP as health care reform goes to the Senate floor, and then moves to conference with the House of Representatives. We must do all we can to shield children from harm. Always.

The Post's Harold Meyerson writes that the Senate bill,

There's more...