Children’s Health Insurance Program -- SCHIP / CHIP

January 24, 2008

On January 23, the House failed to override President Bush’s second veto of the children’s health insurance bill. The vote was 260-152, 15 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for an override. The House leadership has promised to continue working to pass a reauthorization in 2008 that would provide coverage for 10 million children and address the CMS directive. NETWORK will continue to advocate for a policy that provides healthcare, a basic human right, to all uninsured children.

The bill that was voted on (H.R. 3963, the Children’s Health Insurance Program) is the fourth reincarnation of the reauthorization, following the original Senate and House bills, as well as the Senate/House compromise bill.

H.R. 3963 would have superseded the inadequate extension of SCHIP passed in December. In order to ensure that coverage is provided to children who need it most, eligibility would be capped at 300% for all states, excepting those which already have higher caps. It requires applicants whose name and social security number do not match to provide additional documentation of citizenship. It shortens the phase-out period for adults to one year. Finally, to prevent “crowd-out,” or dropping of employer-sponsored insurance, it adds health insurance premium assistance to the list of activities states can do to receive bonus payments, and requires states to adopt plans to address crowd-out. Like the original House and Senate compromise, it:

• improves the program by providing funding to enroll an additional 4 million eligible children
• includes dental coverage and mental health parity
• gives states the option to cover pregnant women
• nullifies the CMS directive discussed below.

Background

After negotiations on a Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization failed, Congress passed an extension of SCHIP until March 2009. The extension includes additional monies for the 21 states which would run out of funding during 2008. It does not address the directive issued on August 17, 2007, from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which falls under the jurisdiction of President Bush, that children in families with incomes above 250% of the poverty line are no longer eligible for the program. This would not only prevent states from enrolling new children above that income level, but would also force 17 states to drop tens of thousands of currently enrolled children from their rolls. On December 18, the Senate passed the extension, S. 2499 by unanimous voice vote, and the House followed on December 19. S. 2499 was signed into law by President Bush on December 29, 2007.