Crunch Time for Congress
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate hope to bring an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to the floor next week. The Senate Finance Committee has approved a $35 billion expansion that would be funded by a 61 cent increase in the federal tobacco tax (bringing the tax to a dollar per pack of cigarettes). Many have pointed out that cigarette taxes are regressive, but others have argued that this is the only funding mechanism that will produce anything close to bipartisan agreement in Congress.
The House Ways and Means Committee worked into Thursday night and Friday morning to approve a broader bill (H.R. 3162) that would include a $50 billion SCHIP expansion and a 45 cent increase in the federal tobacco tax. The House bill also would end the federal government's practice of paying more for people using Medicare Advantage (HMOs within Medicare that tend to attract healthier people) than it does for traditional Medicare. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over SCHIP, was also working on the bill as of this writing.
The President has threatened to veto this legislation, saying it represents an expansion of the government that will "crowd out" private insurance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has pointed out that most of the children who would get health insurance under the bills are those who already meet the eligibility requirements but are not enrolled, and that the majority by far are children who would otherwise not have health insurance.
