2009-02-05

President Obama has signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R. 2) into law. According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, the bill expands the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover more than 4 million uninsured children by 2013 over and above the roughly 7 million children covered by the previous version of the legislation. The bill raises tobacco taxes to cover the cost, which is estimated at more than $32 billion over four-and-a-half years. The bill passed the Senate on January 29 by a vote of 66 to 32, and the House on February 4 by a vote of 289 to 139.

Update: President Obama also issued a memo to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services withdrawing previous Bush Administration instructions that had directed states to limit SCHIP funds to families with incomes at or below 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. The President’s memo allows the SCHIP expansion to proceed without regulatory interference.