Congress and the White House are poised for a showdown over reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program before the program expires on September 30, with both houses having passed legislation that the president has vowed to veto. While President Bush and majorities in both houses of Congress support reauthorization of SCHIP, each offers a very different approach. The … [Read more...] about Stay Focused on SCHIP
The Uninsured
The big news of the week was the Census Bureau releasing its estimates of the number of people who were uninsured last year, now totaling 47 million, up by 2.2 million from the year before. The new numbers will certainly add fuel to the debate over the State Children's Health Insurance Program, especially with the Census Bureau showing that the number of children without health insurance increased … [Read more...] about The Uninsured
Differences among Friends
Several senators were poised to offer an amendment to the SCHIP bill during the Senate debate last week that reflected long hours of work on a free-market, patient-centered alternative. But they ran into a buzz-saw of opposition, not from the Left but from a friend of free markets, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. The Senate amendment, which Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) was preparing to … [Read more...] about Differences among Friends
Freedom vs. Security
The battle over health insurance for children reached a crescendo this week as both houses of Congress passed their own, very different, bills. Both go far beyond reauthorizing the 10-year-old SCHIP program, and together load onto the back of this one bill major changes to the Medicare Advantage program, to physician payment schedules, to the prescription drug benefit, expansions and changes to … [Read more...] about Freedom vs. Security
SCHIP Reauthorization: Views, insights, and implications
Please join us tomorrow, Thursday, for a news conference on: SCHIP Reauthorization: Views, insights, and implications Thursday, August 2 10:00 a.m. Room 1416, Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. Health policy experts who have followed and studied the State Children's Health Insurance Program since its inception will offer their views on … [Read more...] about SCHIP Reauthorization: Views, insights, and implications
SCHIP Reauthorization: Views, insights, and implications
Please join us tomorrow, Thursday, for a news conference on: SCHIP Reauthorization: Views, insights, and implications Thursday, August 2 10:00 a.m. Room 1416, Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. Health policy experts who have followed and studied the State Children's Health Insurance Program since its inception will offer their views on … [Read more...] about SCHIP Reauthorization: Views, insights, and implications
SCHIP Redux
Despite threats of a presidential veto, the Senate Finance Committee, with the support of a majority of its Republican members and all the Democrats, sent to the floor yesterday a five-year expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program with a $60 billion price tag. Only Sens. Trent Lott (MS), John Ensign (NV), Jim Bunning (KY), and John Kyl (AZ) voted ?no? on the bill that HHS … [Read more...] about SCHIP Redux
SCHIP Overreach
The State Children's Health Insurance Program is on the front burner in Congress, with the Senate Finance Committee expected to send a bill reauthorizing the program to the floor as early as next week. SCHIP will expire at the end of September unless Congress acts. The battle lines are being drawn: Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee announced this week a deal that would … [Read more...] about SCHIP Overreach