Obama Signs Legislation To Expand SCHIP CoverageFebruary 4, 2009 |
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 On February 4, President Obama approved a bill to renew and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a federally-funded program which provides low-cost health insurance to children. In California, these federal funds are used to finance the state's Healthy Families program. President Obama and legislators were prompted to take swift action to reauthorize the program within the new administration's first 100 days. The program was set to expire in March. Passage of the SCHIP legislation is significant for residents of California. For the first time, federal funds will be allowed to cover children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants without being forced to wait up to five years for coverage. Furthermore, the bill expands program coverage for an additional 3.2 million children, up for the current level of 6.6 million children. Importantly, the bill will allow families earning up to 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level access to the program, a 100 percent increase from current federal reimbursement levels. Since California currently pays for families earning between 200 and 250 percent of FPL, the change would be of great help to our State budget as well as to California families who are not currently eligible for the program. SCHIP is funded by assessing a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the federal cigarette tax. First 5 LA supports the reauthorization and expansion of this significant program. |
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