Child Health Care in Senate Committee Today

Yesterday the House passed an expansion of SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program), which sends money to the states to cover health care for children. If you’ve been following this issue over the past two years, you know that the House and Senate twice passed SCHIP expansion in 2007, but President Bush vetoed those proposals. At issue were the source of funding (a higher cigarette tax) and the outgoing President’s objection to expanding government-funded health care. In these times, both state governments and working families will likely have no issues with the latter. Current funding for SCHIP runs out in March, so states need this to move now. While the cigarette tax isn’t ideal – it’s arguably a source of funding that hits low and middle-income individuals disproportionately – it’s not a deal-breaker. Smokers will pay a little more at the cash register so that kids can get health care. The American Cancer Society thinks that the cigarette tax increase will reduce smoking related deaths, and that almost 2 million fewer children will take up smoking as a result. That should save health care dollars down the road.
A version of this bill will be heard by the Senate Finance Committee today, and it’s on the fast track so it can be the first bill the incoming President Obama signs. For more details about the current and past proposals, including the one being considered today, take a look at this article from The Hill.
If you’re Senator is on the Finance Committee, you can contact them today and ask them to move the SCHIP expansion quickly. If you’re Senator is not on the committee, contact them anyway and ask them to share their support with Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT). If you don’t know how to reach your Senators, go to http://www.usa.gov/.