WASHINGTON – Both the House and Senate passed their own versions of legislation to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in the days before Congress’ August recess.
The intent of the two bills is the same – channel additional funding into a program that has insured some 6.6 million children who lack health insurance but don’t qualify for Medicaid.
But the bills differ in many key aspects, including levels of funding, methods for funding, tied-in provisions and Congressional support. The last may be the deciding factor in which of the two bills is written into law before SCHIP expires on Sept. 30.
The House bill, named the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act, was narrowly approved in a largely party-line vote of 225 to 204. The Senate’s bill, introduced by the bipartisan Senate Finance Committee, passed the full Senate in a 68-31 vote, receiving enough support to achieve veto-proof status.
President Bush has threatened to veto any major expansion of SCHIP.
Funding for the Senate’s $35 billion, five-year expansion would come from a federal tax increase of 61 cents per pack of cigarettes. The House’s CHAMP Act, which would allocate $50 billion to SCHIP and roughly $40 billion to block a scheduled 10-percent cut to physicians’ reimbursements for Medicare services, would be funded by a 45-cent increase and cuts to subsidies paid to private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans.
Opponents of both bills have said the expansions would be a steppingstone to universal healthcare.
House Republican Whip Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) criticized the CHAMP Act’s reliance on government funding for health insurance. “Under this legislation, 2.1 million children currently covered by existing health plans would be dumped into a single-payer, government-run healthcare scheme,” he said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, highlighted provisions in the Senate bill that would ensure that SCHIP doesn’t become a universal healthcare program. “We have restored the program back to its intent – to cover children, not adults,” he said.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the CHAMP Act would ensure health insurance for up to 11 million American children. “By passing the CHAMP Act, the New Direction Congress is keeping our promise to seniors on Medicare and meeting our obligation to our future – our children,” she said.