WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., unveiled legislation to cover all 9 million uninsured U.S. children Wednesday.
"This plan is practical and fiscally responsible. It will honor our values and prevent kids from needing more costly healthcare in the future," Clinton said.
The Children's Health First Act, introduced in the House and Senate, would expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which currently covers about 6 million low-income children whose families have incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid.
Under the bill, state governments would be given the option of expanding eligibility to children in families up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line, about $70,000 for a family of three. The bill also includes incentives for states to expand coverage and identify eligible children who are not insured.
Families with incomes over the eligibility cut-off and employers would also be able to purchase SCHIP-style coverage at lower cost than they would face in the private insurance market.
"With this bill, we can maximize opportunities for children to receive the care they need to stay healthy," Dingell said. "It's time for Congress to act to protect the most vulnerable among us -- our children."
The bill's sponsors said the cost is still being estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, but similar proposals have come with a price tag of about $50 billion over five years.
If enacted, Clinton said, the bill will move the country toward health coverage for all of the nation's nearly 47 million uninsured individuals.
The proposal runs contrary to President Bush's proposed budget, which would only increase SCHIP funding by $5 billion over five years and limit the program to children in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty line.
Support for the SCHIP program, which must be reauthorized this year, is high and relatively bipartisan, but there are party differences over the level of funding and how it will be distributed.
Prominent Democrats, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., have endorsed the $50 billion figure.
Some Republicans, however, have questioned the value of expanding a program that began with a relatively narrow focus, and accompanying modest budget.
SCHIP advocates, who had asked for $60 billion in additional funding, applauded the move.
The AARP, the nation's largest senior group, praised the bill's emphasis on helping states expand their SCHIP programs.
"An increasing number of grandparents are raising their grandchildren, and they rely on SCHIP to help them afford the high cost of children's health insurance," spokesman Drew Nannis told UPI. "AARP looks forward to working with all parties to expand coverage for children."
The bill will be an important step toward covering all children and could also led to broader efforts to cover all uninsured Americans, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a healthcare consumer group that has spearheaded efforts to reauthorize SCHIP.
"The legislation is the kind of vehicle that could actually achieve coverage for all of America's children," Pollack told UPI.
It would also bolster coverage for children from middle-income families and strengthen employer-based coverage by allowing ineligible individuals to buy in to the SCHIP system, he said.
Passage of strong legislation to cover children could also be a needed boost to healthcare reform efforts, Pollack added. "We've had a lot of failures in healthcare reform, and this could be a good confidence builder."
