The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act expands the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and reauthorizes it for five years. SCHIP, founded in 1997, currently provides health insurance coverage to 6 million children from low- and middle-income families that cannot afford private health insurance. The program is jointly financed by the federal and state governments and is administered by the states. This bill expands SCHIP eligibility, enabling states to enroll an additional 3.8 million children. Coverage for dental and mental health care is guaranteed for the first time. While the bill makes it easier to enroll pregnant women in SCHIP, it phases out coverage for low-income parents who are currently covered in some states. The bill also provides federal incentives for states to make intensive efforts to enroll more of the lowest-income uninsured children in Medicaid. The legislation costs $60 billion over five years, $35 billion above the current level of funding. The increased funding is paid for by a 61-cent increase in cigarette taxes. The program is not open to undocumented immigrants.
The Middle-Class Position:
The Middle Class Supports: SCHIP has been highly successful at reducing the number of uninsured children, but a lack of funding has limited its reach, leaving 9 million American children uninsured in 2006. The shortfall has consequences, not only for children’s individual health and well-being, but for society as a whole, which bears the cost of preventable emergency room visits from children who never got preventive care. By renewing SCHIP and expanding it to more low- and middle-income children, this bill offers children a healthy start in life.
Steeply rising costs over the past several years have made health coverage unaffordable, not only for the poor, but also for a growing number of middle-class families. Since 2000, the premium that the average American employee pays for health coverage has risen more than 83 percent, increasing more than four times faster than wages. At the same time, more employers are dropping insurance plans entirely, and coverage is even more expensive for Americans who must purchase it themselves on the open market. Being able to take a child to the doctor for regular check-ups and immunizations is fundamental to a middle-class standard of living.
From the Experts:
“Research has clearly shown us the connection between a child's health and his or her ability to be successful in school, and ultimately in life. Healthier children are more successful, a fact that, when coupled with our moral obligation to care for our nation's children, has helped spur efforts to improve health care for the youngest Americans. It's also why there's been such strong and steadfast support in both parties and in all regions of the country for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) ever since its creation in 1997.” –Governor Sonny Perdue, R-GA, and Governor Kathleen Sebelius, D-KS (September 12, 2007)
“If CHIP is not reauthorized, millions of children will be in danger of losing access to the health care that the program makes possible. The health care kids in low-income families get through the program is vital to their growth and development. America’s children are our future, and without proper health care they are not given a fair chance to succeed.”-Edward Langston, MD, Chairman of the American Medical Association (September 28, 2007)
“This is the President who is content with spending $12 billion a month on war, yet finds $7-10 billion a year on making sure that kids have health insurance "wrong" and "a mistake." I can’t imagine a clearer case of utterly distorted priorities. Compassionate conservatism has been on life support for the last several years of this administration. President Bush's threatened veto of SCHIP will officially pronounce it dead.” -Rev. Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics (July 26, 2007)
Beyond this Bill:
This legislation will put a significant dent in the number of uninsured children in the United States, but it still leaves millions without access to medically necessary care. The original House bill would have extended health insurance to 1.2 million more children, closing the gap still further. At the same time, the American health care crisis extends far beyond children: 38 million people over age 18 went uninsured in 2006. A true solution must provide coverage for all Americans.
Search our analyses of legislation
significant to America’s current and
aspiring middle class, and find out
how members of Congress voted on
those bills.
