SCHIP extended, expanded

Democrats got off to a fast start in their efforts to reform healthcare by providing coverage to up to 4.1 million children after Congress passed and Obama signed into law a four-and-a-half-year reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
   
The legislation would expand the program by $32.3 billion, bringing the total number of children with SCHIP coverage to 11 million. Bill sponsors said the reauthorization is particularly important as the economy weakens and employees lose their jobs and insurance.        

The bill costs are funded by a 61-cent increase in the federal tobacco tax, to $1 per pack. Congress twice passed a five-year, $35 billion expansion of SCHIP in late 2007, but failed to override the presidential vetoes that followed.