Michigan Social Security Blog

Michigan Social Security Disability Law Blog

Obama Passes Bill for Children Health Care Coverage 

February 10th, 2009

On February 4, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law a critically needed expansion of health care coverage for children. The President signed the legislation just hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the $32.8 billion increase for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), which was approved by the Senate two weeks ago.

The new S-CHIP legislation will:

  • Expand coverage for another 4.1 million uninsured children.
  • Provide an additional $32.8 billion, through September 30, 2013, by increasing federal excise taxes on tobacco products. The tax on cigarettes will go up 62 cents to $1.01 per pack.
  • Provide $100 million in grants for states, local governments, schools and others to enroll more children.
  • Require states to provide dental benefits to children enrolled in S-CHIP.
  • Allow states to offer S-CHIP dental coverage to children whose private medical insurance does not cover dental visits.
  • Allow states to extend S-CHIP and Medicaid to newly arrived legal immigrant children and pregnant women.
  • Allow states to use Social Security numbers to verify an applicant’s citizenship, so to it will be easier to establish eligibility and enroll in the program.

    Unfortunately, even with the latest S-CHIP expansion, there will be about 6 million children without any health coverage in the United States. Millions more American children will remain under-insured, with coverage that falls short of meeting their basic health care needs.

    At present, six million of the nine million uninsured children who are eligible for S-CHIP or Medicaid are not enrolled because many states have adopted policies and procedures that make it very difficult or impossible to get coverage.

    According to the Huffington Post, children living in North Dakota lose eligibility if their parents earn more than 150% of the federal poverty level. However, in twelve other states and the District of Columbia, families can earn twice that amount and still enroll their children. In Alaska and Illinois, children must wait as long as twelve months to get coverage. Mississippi, Utah and Kentucky require a face-to-face meeting to get or keep health care benefits. States also have the option of excluding coverage for essential dental, vision, and mental health services.

    Because of the severe national economic crisis, at least 19 states have cut or are considering cutting services to children.

    At the Bernstein Law Firm, we strongly believe that every American should have access to health care coverage and look forward to further federal initiatives to meet citizens’ health care needs.

    • This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Michigan Social Security Blog. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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