SCHIP

Abstract: If implemented as enacted, Obamacare will impose significant new Medicaid costs on states and constitute a major federal usurpation of long-standing state authority in regulating private insurance. This will be expensive and disruptive for those Americans who rely on individual or employer-based insurance… Read more

Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has put forth an ambitious health care plan.[1] The plan proposes: Expanding eligibility for existing public programs, including both Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP); Creating a National Health Insurance Exchange to serve as a federal… Read more

As President Ronald Reagan reminded the Ameri­can people in his 1981 inaugural address, the U.S. Constitution separates government powers so that the voters can hold government officials accountable. Gov­ernment power is separated both horizontally among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and vertically among the federal, state, and local… Read more

There is a deepening crisis in America's hospital emergency rooms. More and more patients are show­ing up for care without the ability to pay for it. The burden on taxpayers and private insurance policy holders is increasing, and doctors and nurses are often overworked… Read more

For the first time in ten years, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is up for congres­sional reauthorization. Reauthorization provides Con­gress with an opportunity to review and assess the program's goals and objectives and make whatever adjustments and reforms may be necessary to improve it. The Unique Features of SCHIP It is important to recognize the… Read more

The House and Senate recently passed bills to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that will soon be reconciled in conference. Both bills rely on increasing the federal tobacco tax-by 45 cents in the House bill and 61 cents in the Senate bill-to fund SCHIP expansions. An increase in the federal tobacco tax… Read more

A path-breaking 1996 paper by economists David Cutler and Jonathan Gruber provided quantitative support for the idea that expansions of public health care programs often have little "bang for the buck" in terms of reducing the ranks of the uninsured.[1] While some benefits will flow to those who are uninsured,… Read more

This year's expected reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has sparked congressional interest in expanding the program. On this issue, Members of Congress should follow some simple advice: When in a hole, put down the shovel and stop digging. The federal government already spends one-fifth of all tax revenues on healthcare entitlements, namely… Read more

While Washington has been deadlocked over reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), many governors and state policymakers have actively supported Congress not only reauthorizing the program but expanding it further to include uninsured children in families with incomes between 200 percent and 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). State lawmakers tend… Read more

Abstract: If implemented as enacted, Obamacare will impose significant new Medicaid costs on states and constitute a major federal usurpation of long-standing state authority in regulating private insurance. This will be expensive and disruptive for those Americans who rely on individual or employer-based insurance… Read more

Reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) will take on new and heightened importance early next year, some of which will reflect on how the congressional leaders manage their respective chambers as well as deal with the low-income children the program was designed to serve. This much is clear: Congress cannot deliver last… Read more

Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has put forth an ambitious health care plan.[1] The plan proposes: Expanding eligibility for existing public programs, including both Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP); Creating a National Health Insurance Exchange to serve as a federal… Read more

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has unveiled an ambitious health care plan that is comprehensive in scope, sparse in detail, and therefore uncertain in its cost and savings estimates. His proposals focus on three stated objectives: offering affordable, comprehensive, and portable coverage; containing spiraling health care costs and improving quality of care; and promoting… Read more

Congress may soon return to reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Extension of the popular program should have been a simple, quick, and bipartisan victory last year, but pol­icy took a back seat to politics and raw emotion, leav­ing confusion even among proponents on both sides of the aisle. There was little… Read more

In the coming weeks, Congress may once again debate the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). By doing so, congressional leaders would have an opportunity to take a fresh approach to this issue and avoid the serious flaws in last year's legislation. Extension of the popular program last year should have been… Read more

As President Ronald Reagan reminded the Ameri­can people in his 1981 inaugural address, the U.S. Constitution separates government powers so that the voters can hold government officials accountable. Gov­ernment power is separated both horizontally among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and vertically among the federal, state, and local… Read more

President George W. Bush's fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal for Medicaid is consistent with the Administration's overall efforts to address the growing entitlement crisis. These efforts are weakened, however, by the proposal for a dramatic increase in funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Congress should embrace the President's proposals for Medicaid… Read more

While Washington has been deadlocked over reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), many governors and state policymakers have actively supported Congress not only reauthorizing the program but expanding it further to include uninsured children in families with incomes between 200 percent and 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). State lawmakers tend… Read more

Skeptics of the latest version of legislation (H.R. 3963) to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) should not be swayed by claims that substantial changes were made to improve premium assistance for private insurance. Key obstacles remain. Until those problems are solved, the proposed premium assistance provisions in SCHIP will fall short, and… Read more