Federal Legislative Issues
The U.S. Senate Passes SCHIP Legislation.
Just before leaving for a month long summer recess, the U.S. Senate on August 2 passed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (S 1896) with strong bipartisan support. The measure calls for an additional $35 billion in funding for SCHIP, which will maintain coverage for all 6.6 million children currently enrolled in the program. It will also enable an additional 3.2 million low-income, uninsured children to enroll.
The Senate bill must now be reconciled with the House’s version (which passed on Wednesday) when lawmakers return at the end of the summer.
The U.S. House passes the Children’s Health Bill.
By a vote of 225 to 204, the U.S. House on August 1 passed its children’s health bill, the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP; HR 3162). The bill calls for an additional $50 billion in funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. This would allow enrollment to almost double to about 11 million low-income, uninsured children. Funding for the expansion would come from increasing the federal tobacco tax and cutting government payments to insurance companies that provide health coverage through Medicare. This bill must now be reconciled with legislation passed by the Senate.
To read a side-by-side analysis of the two bills, go to http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/chip-bills-summary-7-24-07.pdf