|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Citizen Politics
House Approved the CHAMP Act with Medicare Changes
Five Republicans voted with 220 Democrats
Aug. 2, 2007 - The House on Wednesday voted 225-204
to approve legislation (HR
3162) that would reauthorize SCHIP and make changes to the
Medicare program, Roll Call reports (Dennis, Roll Call, 8/2). Five
Republicans voted with 220 Democrats to pass the measure, while 10
Democrats and 194 Republicans voted against it (Pear,
New York Times, 8/2).
SCHIP is set to expire on Sept. 30. The House
legislation, called the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act
(CHAMP Act),
would increase SCHIP funding by $50 billion over five years (Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report, 7/25).
The bill would reduce payments to Medicare
Advantage plans and increase the federal cigarette tax by 45 cents per
pack to boost funding. To meet pay/go guidelines, Democrats on Monday
agreed to reduce the amount of funding allotted for bonuses to states
for enrolling children in the program. Lawmakers also agreed to limit to
two years plans to reverse scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to
physicians (Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report, 8/1).
Under the bill, states would have the option to
cover children of documented immigrants and establish their own methods
of verifying citizenship. The bill also would tax health insurance by $2
per person to fund research into cost-effective medical treatments
(Alonso-Zaldivar,
Los Angeles Times, 8/2).
The House legislation has the support of Republican and Democratic
governors,
AARP, the
American Academy of Pediatrics,
the
American Medical Association,
the
Catholic Health Association
and the
March of Dimes (Weisman,
Washington Post, 8/2).
Veto
Threat, Democratic Response
In a
veto threat issued on Wednesday for the House bill, the White House said
the bill "clearly favors government-run health care over private health
insurance" and costs too much (Hirschfeld Davis,
AP/Las Vegas Sun, 8/1). The White House called the bill a
"wholesale, unapologetic move to government-run health care for large
classes of children and a return to one-size-fits-all choices for
Medicare beneficiaries" (Pugh,
Miami Herald, 8/2).
House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said, "Contrary to the claims of
some -- including, sadly, President Bush -- this legislation does not
expand the SCHIP program. This does not constitute a government takeover
of health care" (Walsh,
New Orleans Times-Picayune, 8/2).
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that with the SCHIP legislation,
Congress is "not going to fail America's children -- we are championing
them," adding, "This legislation has fiscal soundness, it has a values
base and it should have the support of everyone."
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.)
said, "For this Congress, this (bill) is perhaps the greatest
opportunity we will have." Dingell added, "It's not only a humanitarian
and a compassionate concern of this nation, but rather it's the future
of this country" (Lengell,
Washington Times, 8/2).
Republican Comments
Rep.
Joe Barton (R-Texas) said Republicans are "for reauthorization of SCHIP"
and "for covering our low-income and near-low-income children." However,
Barton said, "We disagree with our friends on the majority side on the
amount of individuals we are talking about" (Dart,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8/2).
Rep.
Jim McCrery (R-La.), who led Republican opposition in the House, said
that the bill "will raise the cost of private health insurance," adding,
"Maybe that's what the majority wants, to drive people out of private
insurance and into government-run health care" (New Orleans
Times-Picayune,
8/2).
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said that the bill is
"government-paid health care," adding, "It's a bad bill for a bad time,
and it's coming under the false pretenses of trying to do something for
children" (Washington
Post,
8/2).
Additional Comments
Drew
Altman, president and CEO of the
Kaiser Family Foundation, said that if lawmakers "fail to reach a
compromise on covering kids, it would be pathetic," adding, "If they
can't agree on kids, what will they be able to reach a deal on when it
comes to health reform? Failure to reauthorize [SCHIP] would damage many
of the most important state health reform efforts around the country" (Los
Angeles Times,
8/2).
Genevieve Kenney, a researcher at the Urban Institute's
Health Policy Center, said, "There's a lot of common ground between"
the House and Senate legislation, but "that's not to underestimate the
difficulties they will have reconciling scaling of support and how they
will pay for it" (Marcus,
Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 8/2).
Senate Progress
Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday "continued to beat back amendments"
to its SCHIP legislation (S
1893) that would expand the program by $35 billion over five years
through a 61-cent-per-pack tobacco tax increase,
CQ
Today
reports. The Senate is debating its legislation as a substitute to a tax
bill (HR
976) that passed in the House (Armstrong/Wayne,
CQ
Today,
8/1).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Senate will complete
work on the bill before the August recess (CongressDaily,
8/2).
Related Coverage
-
●
National Republican Congressional Committee: The NRCC on
Wednesday circulated a memo in advance of the August recess that
claims Democrats have run a "do-nothing Congress" and created
political opportunities for Republicans through the SCHIP
reauthorization debate,
CongressDaily
reports (Wegner,
CongressDaily,
8/2).
-
● Hospitals:
At least 27 hospitals, "most of them in Democratic congressional
districts," would receive increases in Medicare reimbursements under
the bill passed by the House on Wednesday,
CQ Today
reports (Wayne,
CQ Today,
8/1).
-
● Pay/Go:
SCHIP legislation "represents the biggest test yet of Democrats'
pledge" to follow pay/go guidelines; "highlights the sharp
differences between Republicans and Democrats over how big a role
the government should play in covering the uninsured"; and
"underscored how even politically appealing bills can be ensnared in
pre-2008 posturing between the Democratic Congress and President
Bush," the
Wall Street
Journal
reports (Lueck,
Wall Street
Journal,
8/2).
Editorial
"Lawmakers in both chambers must reconcile their differences and be
prepared to iron out a workable compromise between the two proposals
before the SCHIP program expires," according to a
Baltimore Sun editorial. The House version "offers the best
approach to financing" by reducing payments to MA plans and increasing
the tobacco tax, while the larger tobacco tax used to fund SCHIP in the
Senate version "tends to fall most heavily on those least able to pay,"
according to the editorial. The
Sun
concludes that the reauthorization of SCHIP "is critical, the need is
urgent -- and despite the usual procedural bickering, the opportunity
for progress is unusually ripe" (Baltimore
Sun,
8/2).
Broadcast Coverage
Several broadcast programs recently reported on the bill. Summaries
appear below.
-
>> American
Public Media's "Marketplace":
The segment includes a commentary by David Frum, a resident scholar
at the
American Enterprise Institute (Frum, "Marketplace," American
Public Media, 8/1). Audio and a transcript of the segment are
available
online.
-
>> CBS' "Evening
News": The segment includes comments from Rhonique Harris of the
Children's Health Fund, Bush and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) (Assuras,
"Evening News," CBS, 8/1). Video of the segment and expanded CBS
News coverage are available
online.
-
>> C-SPAN's "Washington
Journal": The segment includes a discussion with Rep. Diana
DeGette (D-Colo.) ("Washington Journal," C-SPAN, 8/1). Video of the
segment is available
online.
-
>> NPR's "Day
to Day": The segment includes a discussion with NPR health
policy correspondent Julie Rovner (Chadwick, "Day to Day," NPR,
8/1). Audio of the segment is available
online.
-
>> NPR's "Morning
Edition": The segment includes comments from Hoyer; Jeb
Hensarling (R-Texas), Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Janice Schakowsky
(D-Ill.), John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) (Rovner,
"Morning Edition," NPR, 8/2). Audio of the segment is available
online.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
