Passage of the SCHIP expansion came about when several Republican senators joined the Democrats to pass the bill by a substantial margin. Although the bill passed the House easily (290-135), the key was the GOP votes in the Senate.
This is big news – for two reasons.
In the signing ceremony, Pres. Obama said “”The way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children through CHIP is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American.” This marks the first step towards universal coverage, a goal set by President Obama during the Presidential campaign, and one many of his supporters are monitoring closely. The expansion of SCHIP continues coverage for seven million kids and provides funding for an additional four million.
Perhaps equally significant was the Senate vote, where nine Republican Senators joined their Democratic colleagues to pass the bill easily last week. This despite GOP complaints that legal immigrants would be eligible for coverage under the SCHIP. (Despite what CNN reported and nativist Lou Dobbs says, there are strong provisions in the bill preventing coverage of illegal immigrants including requirements for verification of immigration status by the states).
Among the GOP Senators voting ‘yea’ were Collins and Snowe of Maine, Alexander and Corker of Tennessee, and Hutchison of Texas (!). While the Snowe and Collins votes are not unexpected, the support of the two Tennesseans and Hutchison in Texas are somewhat surprising. I wouldn’t expect the latter Senators to be very supportive of future health reform legislation. That said, the fact that this initial bill passed with some bipartisan support is a positive signal for reform advocates.
What does this mean?
A much-needed success for the President – and perhaps a little momentum on the heatlh reform front.
Feb
5
