A popular children’s insurance plan for lower-income families survived another day on its run through the gauntlet, as the U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to infuse $35 billion into the jeopardized program.
The State Children’s Health Insurance Plan, also called SCHIP, covers 63,000 Mississippi children whose working parents cannot afford private health insurance.
The current funding expires Sept. 30. The Senate vote is expected Thursday. President Bush said he will veto the new legislation. At the heart of his dissent is the plan’s funding via a large increase in tobacco taxes; the move toward entrenched state-run medicine; and something called “crowding out” in which families with higher incomes and private coverage switch to the expanded state plan, removing health care dollars from children who legitimately need coverage.
Magnolia Tribune
