Republican Senators Criticize Provisions of SCHIP Legislation
Senate Republicans on Tuesday are expected to "air a handful of complaints" with a bill that would reauthorize SCHIP and expand coverage to an estimated additional four million children, CongressDaily reports. Neither party has proposed amendments to the bill yet, but Republican members say Democrats have not made an earnest attempt to develop a bipartisan bill. Debate on the legislation is scheduled to begin on Tuesday and is expected to last through much of the week, according to CongressDaily (CongressDaily, 1/27).
Under the expansion bill, which is similar to a measure that former President George W. Bush vetoed in 2007, children in families with incomes of up to three times the federal poverty level would qualify for the program. SCHIP is set to expire on March 31. Supporters of the bill say it would raise the number of children covered by SCHIP from about seven million to about 11 million (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/26). The $31.5 billion measure would extend the program for four-and-one-half years and would be funded mainly by a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the federal cigarette tax (Lengell, Washington Times, 1/27).
The Senate Republican Policy Committee said it objects to a provision of the bill that would allow states to waive the federally mandated five-year waiting period for documented immigrant children and pregnant women to qualify for SCHIP. The committee also said that a provision of the measure that would loosen citizenship documentation requirements could make it easier for undocumented immigrants to sign up for the program (CongressDaily, 1/27). In addition, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) expressed concern that the reauthorization bill does not go far enough to ensure that the program remains targeted at low-income families whose children have no access to health insurance (Freking, AP/Contra Costa Times, 1/26). According to Republican lawmakers, the expansion would cause 2.4 million children to leave private health plans to enroll in SCHIP (Washington Times, 1/27).
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that the provisions Republicans oppose are among those that were added since a bipartisan compromise was struck on SCHIP legislation in 2007. He said, "I don't think undoing agreements that have been made and veering toward partisanship instead of cooperation is the change that people believe in" (Rovner, "Morning Edition," NPR.org, 1/27).
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said that SCHIP has cut the number of uninsured children in the U.S. by more than one-third and that the new bill would help transition adults out of the program. He also noted that the bill would allow states to cover children of families with incomes greater than 300% of the poverty level through SCHIP, but that states would be reimbursed for their coverage at Medicaid levels, which are lower than SCHIP levels (AP/Contra Costa Times, 1/27).
NPR's "Morning Edition" on Tuesday reported on Republican opposition to the SCHIP measure. The segment includes comments from Kyl, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) (Rovner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 1/27).
