A Look at Children’s Health Care Program

By The Associated Press

A look at the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is up for renewal this week in the House and the Senate:

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Why now: The program, enancted in 1997, expires Sept. 30 if not renewed.

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Who the program serves: The SCHIP program is designed to subsidize health coverage for families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. More than 6 million children participated in SCHIP at some point in 2006. Also, 670,000 adults received SCHIP coverage as a result of waivers granted to some states.

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Cost of the program: The federal government now spends about $5 billion a year on the SCHIP, covering about 70 percent of its costs. States also subsidize coverage.

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The proposals: President Bush has recommended a 20 percent increase, to an average of $6 billion over the next five years. The bill before the House and Senate would raise the average yearly cost to $12 billion. Bush has said he would veto that. The bill would expand health coverage to 10 million children and contains provisions that would transition some of the adults to Medicaid. The spending increase would be paid for with a 61-cent increase on the excise tax on a pack of cigarettes.

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Number of uninsured: The Census Bureau recently estimated there were about 9 million children without health insurance in 2006.

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Philosophical divide: The Bush administration has voiced concerns that states have gone too far in expanding the program to more middle-income families the program was not originally designed to serve. Some Republicans also criticize an expansion of the program as a step toward universal government-administered health care. Members of Congress, primarily Democrats, argue that too many low-income families are priced out of the insurance market and states should continue to have the flexibility to serve those families through SCHIP.

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What happens next: Anticipating a veto, Congress is including a temporary continuation of the program at the current funding level through mid-November as part of short-term spending bill to keep all of the government in operating funds after Sept. 30.