Senate Passes and Bush Signs Stimulus Package; No Health Provisions Included

President Bush on March 9 signed into law economic stimulus legislation that does not include provisions in earlier Republican and Democratic versions of the bill to provide health coverage to unemployed workers, the AP/Deseret News reports. The new law extends unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and provides $43 billion in tax breaks for businesses (AP/Deseret News, 3/10). After months of "partisan gridlock," the House passed the legislation 417-3 on March 7, and the Senate approved the bill March 8 on an 85-9 vote. Bush called the legislation "a very good bill," although he "did not get several major elements that he wanted," including tax credits to help unemployed workers purchase health insurance, AP/Investor's Business Daily reports (AP/Investor's Business Daily, 3/11). Republicans had sought a provision that would have provided one-year tax credits to cover up to 60% of the cost of health insurance for unemployed workers. The House passed two GOP-sponsored economic stimulus bills that included the tax credit provision, but neither of the bills passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Democrats opposed the provision, saying that it could undermine the system of employer-sponsored health insurance (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/7). Democrats favored provisions that would have helped unemployed workers purchase health insurance through COBRA -- which permits unemployed workers to keep their employer-based coverage by paying 102% of the premiums -- and would have provided states with a temporary increase in the federal Medicaid match rate (Dinan, Washington Times, 3/9).