House members voted 289 to 139 to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
The bill’s passage (HR 2; http://thomas.loc.gov) on January 14 was a triumph for Democrats, who saw a similar measure in 2007 vetoed by President George W. Bush. At press time, it was expected that a similar bill would be approved by the Senate, and President Barack Obama had said he would quickly sign such legislation into law.
The initial 10-year authorization of SCHIP, which provided health insurance for 7 million low-income children, expired last September with the Bush veto, forcing Congress to pass a short-term extension of the program until April. The new legislation extends coverage to an additional 4 million children. It is estimated that SCHIP will cost $32.3 billion over its four-and-a-half-year extension.
The major change in the legislation from that vetoed last year is inclusion of an . . . [Full Text of this Article]
