President Obama has signed new legislation reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for the next 4 1/2 years at a cost of $32.8 billion. The legislation was passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Feb. 4, by a vote of 290-135, following last week’s 66-32 vote in the Senate.
The new legislation will expand SCHIP coverage to an estimated 4.1 million children, while maintaining coverage for the more than 7 million children already in the program. The cost of the program will be funded by an increase in the federal tax on tobacco products.
Included in the legislation was a provision expanding SCHIP to newly arrived legal immigrants, who had faced a five-year waiting period for eligibility. Dropped from the legislation was a provision that would have banned physicians’ self-referrals to hospitals in which they have an ownership interest.
Read the White House statement.
