SCHIP Passes the House!

by Timothy Foley · 2009-01-14 12:59:00 UTC
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About half an hour ago, the House voted on the measure to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program.  As mentioned on this blog, it's one of the true success stories in expanding coverage.  With dedicated funding from the cigarette tax (i.e., it's paid for and doesn't impact the budget or the deficit), SCHIP already covers nearly 7 million children.  Thanks in part to your efforts, we've cleared the first hurdle in expanding health care coverage to 4 million children more.

This is a tremendous first victory in the health care debate.  Let's just say the vote wasn't even close:  289 to 139.  And there's every indication that the next hurdle -- the Senate -- will be the last hurdle for this program.  Immediately after the vote, President-elect Obama released a statement pledging to sign the bill:

“In this moment of crisis, ensuring that every child in America has access to affordable health care is not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens.  That is why I'm so pleased that Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives came together to provide health insurance to over ten million children whose families have been hurt most by this downturn.  This coverage is critical, it is fully paid for, and I hope that the Senate acts with the same sense of urgency so that it can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am President."

That's a far cry from our current President, who twice vetoed the measure, even after it passed with bipartisan support.

What can still go wrong?  There is one crucial difference between the bill passed by the House today and the version to be introduced by Sen. Max Baucus of the Finance Committee in the Senate tomorrow:  the House version waives the 5 year waiting period for children of legal immigrants to participate in the program.  We'll save a debate on health care for workers who are undocumented for another time.  This is a restriction on families who are here legally, with proper documents, paying taxes, on a path to citizenship -- the whole kit and caboodle.  There's also a restriction on pregnant mothers.  These restrictions didn't make sense in 1997, they don't make sense now, and it's time for the Senate to follow the House's lead -- something Sen. Baucus suggests he's open to.

We need to keep up the pressure.  Write to your Senators now and urge them to pass the House version of SCHIP.

We're almost there!

(Photo credit:  Korean Resource Center on Flickr.)

Timothy Foley Tim has been an online organizer and blogger on health care policy for the Obama for America campaign and the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare.
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