Calling it "the first step" to health coverage for "every single American," on Wednesday President Obama signed the SCHIP bill into law to reauthorize and expand the program. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers low-income children whose families don't qualify for Medicaid, was to expire March 31 without congressional action.
Under the new law, children in families with incomes of up to three times the federal poverty level will qualify for the program. The measure, which calls for increased SCHIP spending of $32.8 billion, will be funded with a 62-cent-per-pack hike in the federal cigarette tax.
HME providers narrowly escaped cuts to oxygen and power wheelchairs in Congress' last debate over expansion of the program (see Providers Must Head Off SCHIP Provisions, HME Lobbyists Say, HomeCare Monday, Aug. 20, 2007).
