Good news coming our way via Huffington Post: the House is expected to approve an expansion in the State Children's Health Insurance Program next week.
This bill will sail through the House on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to Congressman Henry Waxman. How quickly the Senate can act remains to be seen, but our esteemed leader Harry Reid "listed it as one of a handful of priorities that chamber would consider early in the session." The best case scenario would be for President Obama to sign the expansion in his first week, giving him an early legislative victory in a VITAL area.
The program is designed to meet the needs of children whose families' incomes disqualify them for Medicaid, but still do not allow for the purchase of a private plan. But the problem goes beyond income: millions of children are stuck in the middle - even Health and Human Services acknowledges the people who are poor but are still screwed because of this wonderful system we have, as well as the ridiculous health care costs these days:
Medicaid does not provide medical assistance for all poor persons. Even under the broadest provisions of the Federal statute (except for emergency services for certain persons), the Medicaid program does not provide health care services, even for very poor persons, unless they are in one of the designated eligibility groups. Low income is only one test for Medicaid eligibility; assets and resources are also tested against established thresholds.
So here's the deal: SCHIP was expanded by Congress twice in 2007, but vetoed both times by our current president. The Senate was prepared to override Bush's veto, but as Huffington Post points out, the House was unable to muster the votes. Won't be necessary this time.
There are still some issues to be resolved:
Waxman said several aspects of the bill have yet to be determined. For example, he did not know how long the program would be renewed, but he said it would not be a full five years, as lawmakers sought in 2007. Nor did he know yet how much the tax on tobacco would be increased to help pay for the program's renewal and expansion.
That's OK, it's a start. As Waxman says later in the article, getting this bill to Obama's desk in short order would be "a down payment on national health insurance." It's easy to push health concerns to the back burner in urgent times like these, but let's also remember that this is an urgent issue. Between SCHIP and the Mental Health Parity Act that passed last year, the Democratic Congress has done good work in small increments on the issue of quality, affordable health insurance for every American. Keep up the good work!
Git 'er done.