A New SCHIP Proposal
In the beginning of October, President Bush vetoed the democratic proposal to renew the State’s Children Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP). The new democratic proposed planned increases spending by $35 billion. That’s a substantial increase compared to Bush’s proposal of an increase of $1 billion per year, resulting in an overall $5 billion increase. The Bush administration believes that an increase of $5 billion is a rational proposal. Any tax increase to support funding for the new program is strongly opposed by the Bush administration. Democrats are pushing for an increase of the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes. The increase would raise the current federal tax of 39 cents by an additional 61 cents to $1.
The 61 cent increase as well as any other tax increase is opposed by the Bush administration. The democrats’ new bill proposes to expand coverage to an additional 4 million children. Democrats admit that you cannot cover the total of 10 million children for the new proposal without an increase in funding of $35 billion.
The revised proposal is designed to offer children health insurance to families that could not afford it under normal circumstances. The target family to qualify for coverage should earn twice the amount of the federal poverty rate or less. This would include all families with a total income of $41,300 or less. Certain states are covering families that earn $61,950; that’s three times the federal poverty rate. The state of New York sought to cover families earning four times the federal poverty rate. That’s a yearly earning $83,000 per year, the Bush administration rejected New York’s request citing that the proposed expansion was becoming excessive.
Certain Republicans who supported Bush are beginning to feel that this will begin to hurt them politically. The House was just 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority to override Bush’s veto. Among the voters to override included 44 Republicans. A revised bill would give states the ability to check applicants Social Security numbers to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining health benefits. Also, negotiators believe the Democrats may agree to cap the plan at three times the federal poverty rate. If some of these negotiations are applied to the new bill, some believe Republicans will claim victory and embrace the bill.
The 61 cent increase as well as any other tax increase is opposed by the Bush administration. The democrats’ new bill proposes to expand coverage to an additional 4 million children. Democrats admit that you cannot cover the total of 10 million children for the new proposal without an increase in funding of $35 billion.
The revised proposal is designed to offer children health insurance to families that could not afford it under normal circumstances. The target family to qualify for coverage should earn twice the amount of the federal poverty rate or less. This would include all families with a total income of $41,300 or less. Certain states are covering families that earn $61,950; that’s three times the federal poverty rate. The state of New York sought to cover families earning four times the federal poverty rate. That’s a yearly earning $83,000 per year, the Bush administration rejected New York’s request citing that the proposed expansion was becoming excessive.
Certain Republicans who supported Bush are beginning to feel that this will begin to hurt them politically. The House was just 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority to override Bush’s veto. Among the voters to override included 44 Republicans. A revised bill would give states the ability to check applicants Social Security numbers to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining health benefits. Also, negotiators believe the Democrats may agree to cap the plan at three times the federal poverty rate. If some of these negotiations are applied to the new bill, some believe Republicans will claim victory and embrace the bill.
The tax increase would be a great source of funding for this plan. Maybe an increase on the cigarette tax can act as motivator for more people to quit smoking too!
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If people quit smoking, then where will your funding come from???
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