WASHINGTON -- The House on Wednesday approved legislation expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), ignoring a new veto threat from President Bush and the opposition of House Republicans. The Senate, where the legislation has strong bipartisan support, is expected to follow suit, voting on a more modest version of the program and probably setting up a showdown between congressional supporters and the White House, which says the measures are far too expansive.
To pay for itself, the House bill would raise the federal cigarette [image-nocss] tax by 45 cents a pack and raise the tax on other tobacco products, while making federal payments to managed-care plans under Medicare equal to reimbursements for the federal Medicare program.
The 225-204 vote in the Housemostly along party linescame after hours of delaying tactics, strident rhetoric and trench warfare from Republicans who called the bill the first step toward "socialized medicine," financed by an unfair tobacco tax increase and cuts for managed-care companies in Medicare, said The Washington Post.
But in the end, the Democrats had weapons that were just too powerfula promise to insure 5 million more children who otherwise would have no access to health care, adding to the 6 million children already coveredand the backing of Republican and Democratic governors, the American Medical Association, AARP, the March of Dimes, the Catholic Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and even cyclist Lance Armstrong.
And the prospects are good in the Senate, where a key Republican, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), said, "It's difficult for me to understand how anyone wouldn't want to do this."
But President Bush opposes such a major expansion of the program. In an interview with The Washington Post last month, he said, "When you expand eligibilityyou're really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government."
The House bill would enlarge S-CHIP by $47 billion over five years to provide coverage to the additional 5 million children, said the report.
The Senate measure, a $35 billion expansion of the program over five years, would continue coverage for about 1 million children who might otherwise be dropped and add 3 million children, the report added.
By forgoing the physician reimbursement issue and rural health-care funding, senators could pay for the bill with a 61-cent increase in the federal tobacco tax while avoiding any Medicare cuts. That has given the Senate bill broad, bipartisan support, but House Democratic leaders say the advocacy of Hatch and several other conservatives will give their members ample political cover when negotiators try to reconcile the House and Senate versions.
Hatch and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said the House-Senate negotiations will aim to keep the final measure within the scope of the Senate bill, in hopes of avoiding a veto.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO), in its latest E-News Bulletin, disseminated a policy statement issued by the Bush administration supporting S-CHIP, but forcefully stating that the House version of the legislation imposes a massive, regressive tax increase. The statement warns that the President will veto the House version of the bill.
NATO also noted that prior to forwarding the House bill to the floor for debate, the House Rules Committee reduced the tax on large cigars from 44.63% to 33% of the manufacturer's price for a five-year period while the maximum tax of $1 per cigar remained the same. The tax rate on a large cigar would rise to 40% on October 1, 2013.
Click here to view the Statement of Administration Policy on the House bill.
Click here to view the Statement of Administration Policy on the Senate bill.
Click here to read Kennedy's statement on S-CHIP.
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