[NYAPRS Enews] SR: Washington Poised To Expand SCHIP; Health Insurance To More Children

[Matt Canuteson]

Nation Poised To Extend Health Insurance To More Children


By Michelle L. Brandt Stanford Report January 21, 2009


A bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance
Program, or SCHIP, sailed through the House of Representatives last week
and is poised for approval by the Senate. President Barack Obama is
expected to sign the legislation in a matter of days. 

The bill is being called an early-session victory for Obama, who has
long expressed support for the program, and a signal of the new
administration's commitment to improving health care in the country.
"With the reauthorization, more than 90 percent of all children in the
United States will be covered by private health insurance or be eligible
under government insurance programs," said Paul Wise, MD, MPH, the
Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society. "This is a
major success for the country." 

The number of children in SCHIP is projected to jump from about 7
million to about 11 million, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
called a "monumental achievement." 

SCHIP was created in 1997 and designed to provide health coverage to
children in families with incomes that are low but not low enough to
qualify for Medicaid. The program was born from President Bill Clinton's
failed health-care reform plan when congressional leaders became
insistent on enacting some sort of bipartisan health-care legislation. 

Two bills to expand the program were vetoed by President George W. Bush,
who said it was too expensive and went too far toward federalizing
health care. Yet by the second time he nixed the legislation in
September 2007, the measure was winning exceptional grassroots support.
"Creating a bipartisan group that would support the reauthorization was
no small thing," said Wise. "I do think [its passing] is significant
given the tortured history of SCHIP, particularly over the last two
years." 

Pediatric residents at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, for instance,
organized a nationwide rally and letter-writing campaign on its behalf.
"Physicians may be not the most notorious rabble-rousers so to speak,
but that works to our advantage," said Lisa Chamberlain, MD, assistant
professor of pediatrics, who worked with the residents in their efforts.
"When we get that frustrated, where we're marching with our white coats
and waving signs, we're really heard." 

The expanded program, which is projected to cost $32.3 billion over the
next five years, will be paid for by an increase in the cigarette tax.
Children in families with incomes of up to three times the federal
poverty level will qualify for the program. Previously the ceiling was
set at twice the poverty level. It also eliminates a five-year waiting
period for children of documented immigrants who seek coverage. 

Prior to the presidential election, experts, including ones interviewed
for the fall issue of Stanford Medicine magazine, predicted that SCHIP
would be approved by Obama. The expectation was that he would then
introduce other health-reform measures. "I think this is a sign of the
general direction the new administration wants to take," said Laurence
Baker, PhD, professor of health research and policy. "Obama has signaled
pretty clearly that he wants to move on health care more broadly, and I
would not be surprised to hear more discussion of proposals for
expanding coverage from this administration and the new Congress." 

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2009/january21/med-health-012109.h
tml?view=print

 

 

 

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