Senate SCHIP Bill Will Include Coverage For Immigrant Children, Pregnant Women, Sen. Reid Says

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 27 Jan 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The Senate version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program expansion bill (S. 275) likely will include provisions allowing states to extend public health benefits to legal immigrant pregnant women and children who have been in the country less than five years, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday, CongressDaily reports. Reid said that he expects the Senate to begin debating amendments to legislation expanding the program (Edney, CongressDaily, 1/23). SCHIP provides health insurance benefits to children in low-income families who do not qualify for Medicaid. The House on Jan. 14 approved a SCHIP renewal and expansion bill (H.R. 2) that would extend benefits to about four million additional children and their parents, including legal immigrant children and pregnant women, bringing the total number of individuals covered under SCHIP to about 11 million. The bill, estimated to cost $33 billion over four-and-a-half years, would be funded in part through an increase in the federal cigarette tax from 61 cents to $1.00 per pack (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/15).

According to CongressDaily, Republicans claim that the bill's immigrant provisions will provoke debate and could overburden the program if the legal immigrant population increases because of new immigration policies. However, Reid said the legislation should not create "a debate over immigration" but rather "a debate about taking care of our children -- children who are here legally." Reid added that he will not file cloture if debate on the bill goes smoothly. Some Republicans who supported earlier SCHIP expansions said that they cannot support the latest bill because it extends benefits to children from families with higher incomes than previous legislation. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chair of the Senate Finance Health Subcommittee, said he would choose his battles, adding that he preferred the first of two SCHIP bills passed and then vetoed by former President George W. Bush in 2007. Rockefeller said that version of the bill was more "consistent with our conservative approach to attract Republicans to our side" (CongressDaily, 1/23).

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