Governor Robert Casey and the Children's Health Insurance Program
Near Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania produced many public figures, but few reshaped American social policy the way Robert Patrick Casey did. Born in nineteen thirty-two in New York City and raised in Scranton, Casey served in nearly every major elected and appointed office Pennsylvania offered before becoming governor in nineteen eighty-seven.
As governor he piloted the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, which provided medical coverage to children from families that earned too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance. Pennsylvania's CHIP program became the national model. When Congress created a federal version in nineteen ninety-seven, two years after Casey left office, it was built on the framework Pennsylvania had demonstrated.
Casey also championed environmental reform through the PENNVEST clean water program and took an ardent pro-life stance that made him a singular figure in Democratic politics of his era. He died in two thousand. The marker stands in the memorial park on Washington Avenue not far from where he lived and served.
