Only days after the Senate Finance Committee approved a bipartisan $35 billion bill to renew and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, House Democrats announced a $50 billion expansion of their own. That bill now heads to the House floor, following approval by the House Ways and Means Committee on July 27.
Both the House and Senate bills share an uncertain future in Congress and beyond. President Bush has formally threatened to veto both bills, contending that further funding for the public healthcare program is a dangerous step towards a single-payer system.
The House bill would appropriate a total of $90 billion to expand SCHIP and block a scheduled 10 percent cut to physicians' Medicare reimbursements in 2008. These costs would be funded by a 45-cent per-pack increase on the federal cigarette tax and cuts to subsidies paid to insurance companies offering private Medicare Advantage plans.
The Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees both met to mark up the lengthy House bill on Thursday night. Ways and Means passed the bill, known as the Children's Health and Medicare Protection, or CHAMP Act, on a 24-17 party-line vote. Energy and Commerce discharged the bill to the full House at the end of Friday.
"Passage of the CHAMP Act marks an important first step toward getting America’s health care system on the mend," said Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.).
Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said the act, "(D)irectly contrasts with the Republican agenda to privatize Medicare. It is the polar opposite of the Republican desire to put anti-government ideology ahead of children’s health."
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said in a July 30 press release that Medicare Advantage plans have helped many seniors and should not be undercut by the SCHIP bills. "We should not take a step back from this significant progress - which is what some in Congress are proposing to do through a massive expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that would cut billions from Medicare Advantage," Leavitt said.
House Republicans previously indicated they wouldn't back an SCHIP expansion bill that contains more than $35 billion in allocations. The CHAMP Act would add the $50 billion to the $25 billion baseline funding for the public program, directing a total of $75 billion into SCHIP reauthorization and expansion over the next five years.
The CHAMP Act differs from the Senate Finance Committee's bipartisan bill on matters of cost, funding and numerous provisions. In addition to stopping the 10 percent cut to physicians' Medicare pay, the House bill designates a 0.5 percent increase in reimbursement for Medicare services in each of the next two years.
Furthermore, the House bill has won the support of few Republicans, while the Senate bill has been backed by ranking Republicans including Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
This story was last updated on July 31, 2007.