Seattle Pi:
Congress probably will take its time in considering President Bush’s plan for expanding health insurance coverage. Lawmakers, however, are moving more quickly to renew a program that now provides coverage to 6 million people, mostly children.
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program expires Sept. 30. Democrats and Republicans say they want to swiftly reauthorize the program.
‘There is no greater priority for the Finance Committee in the health arena this year,’ said Sen. Max Baucus, the committee’s new chairman. ‘It’s No. 1.’
When Congress approved the program in 1997, it provided $40 billion over 10 years. States use the money, along with their own dollars, to subsidize health coverage for families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford insurance through the private sector.
Job Bedford, 13, of Baltimore, told Baucus’ committee Thursday that being in the program means he can take his asthma medicine with him wherever he goes, which makes him feel safer.
Interest groups and trade associations are lobbying for a major expansion of the program as a way to reduce the ranks of the uninsured, now estimated at 46.6 million. But some senators sought to temper expectations. More.
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