Lawmakers Discuss Linking SCHIP Expansion With Small Employer Breaks

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 13 Feb 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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A bipartisan group of senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Finance committees has been holding discussions on the possibility of coupling an expansion of SCHIP with new risk-pooling arrangements for small businesses, The Politico reports. According to The Politico, following a compromise on an economic stimulus package by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), the "big question" is whether the two lawmakers will be able to "build on that experience to find middle ground on other issues." Of potential compromises, the SCHIP-small business grouping is the "[m]ost intriguing and the biggest long shot," The Politico reports. However, one Senate aide said that the coupling would be a "marriage made in heaven."

Pelosi said, "There are some possibilities, but a lot of it depends on the White House," adding, "The president isn't going to sign SCHIP." Boehner has not committed to the coupling of SCHIP and risk-pooling arrangements but said that it is "time for a comprehensive overhaul of health care" (Rogers/O'Connor, The Politico, 2/12).

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