House Passes Children’s Health Insurance Extension

by Mike Hall, Jan 14, 2009

With President Bush’s veto pen just days away from running out of ink, the U.S. House of Representatives today passed (289-139) a four-and-a-half year extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bill will provide health care coverage to an additional 4 million low-income children, along with preserving coverage for the nearly 7 million already enrolled.

In 2007, despite bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, Bush twice vetoed similar bills. But President-elect Barack Obama says providing health care coverage for the nation’s children is a top priority and will sign the bill. Says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

At a time of economic crisis, nothing could be more essential than ensuring that the children of hardworking families receive the quality care they deserve. With more than 2.6 million jobs lost last year alone, Americans are seeing the health care they and their children depend on disappear….We look forward to this legislation being among the first bills President Obama will sign into law.

The short-term reauthorization of the children’s health care program Bush eventually signed did not extend coverage to additional children and is set to expire at the end of March. Today, states are facing huge budget crises and many are making cuts in vital services, such as health care. Children’s advocates fear children’s health care could be on the chopping block in many states. Says AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director Bill Samuel in a letter to the House:

It is critical in this time of economic crisis that Congress takes swift action to reauthorize the SCHIP program. Doing so would strengthen the safety net for low-income children and give states assurance of stable and adequate funding for their SCHIP programs as they face growing budget shortfalls.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) says the bill comes at a critical time, as more and more workers are losing jobs and health insurance, and says the reauthorization will

ensure our nation’s children don’t fall through the cracks [and] is a great first start as we begin our work on reforming the nation’s healthcare system.

The Senate, which in 2007 mustered 67 votes for the bill, is expected to begin hearings on the bill this week, but it is unclear when it will come to a vote by the full Senate. Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

The Senate must not delay in putting this much-needed legislation to a vote, so that our new president can sign it into law as one of his first orders of business…. As policymakers continue to craft an economic recovery package in the coming weeks, they should include provisions laying the groundwork for the substantial health care reform that this country so badly needs.

Bush first vetoed the program’s renewal in October 2007, and a congressional override attempt failed. After a second children’s health bill—revised to meet Bush’s objections to the original bill—passed with bipartisan support, Bush vetoed that bill in December 2007.

Click here for a detailed look at the new bill.

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