What's Congress up to? Children's health update...

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on a new bill to replace the one President Bush vetoed that extends the life of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Bush and some Republicans launched claims, not entirely true, that the vetoed bill would provide free health insurance for families making over $80,000 a year. The truth was that New York and only New York would be allowed to raise coverage to that level (due to the high cost of living in New York City), and only if the President gave them a special waiver. New Jersey would have been allowed to continue covering families making about $70,000 a year.

The new version is substantially similar, providing more money to enroll low-income kids who are already eligible but whose families do not know about the opportunity for health insurance. The new bill prohibits states from using federal money to cover families over 300% of the poverty line, or about $61,000 a year for a family of four. New Jersey will face a cut, and New York won't be allowed to expand their program. Coverage of childless adults will be phased out in one year instead of two, states will be required to develop plans to minimize the shift from private to public insurance, states will be encouraged to use the money to supplement premiums for existing employer-sponsored coverage, and there is stronger language requiring states to verify citizenship or legal immigrant status.

The new plan may also be vetoed by Bush, but the hope of its supporters is that there will be enough new Republican votes for this bill that there will be the necessary 2/3rds majority to override the President's veto and make him irrelevant to the process. Stay tuned.