WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a bill extending health coverage to 4 million uninsured children, a move he called a first step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to provide insurance for all Americans.
Obama used an ebullient East Room signing ceremony to continue his push for his plan that would provide universal health insurance. He wrapped the signing event in another pitch for his separate $819 billion economic plan that is under consideration in the Senate and faces Republican opposition.
“As I think everybody here will agree, this is only the first step,” Obama said of the bill that reauthorizes the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
“Because the way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children through CHIP is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American,” he said to applause.
The children’s health bill calls for spending an additional $32.8 billion on SCHIP, which now enrolls an estimated 7 million children. Lawmakers generated that revenue by raising the federal tobacco tax.
Health officials project that there are about 8 million to 9 million uninsured children in the United States.
The bill went to the White House fresh from passage in the House on a vote of 290-135. Forty Republicans joined in approval.
Most Republicans, though, criticized the cost of the legislation. They also said it will mean an estimated 2.4 million children who otherwise would have access to private insurance will join SCHIP instead.
“The Democrats continue to push their government-run health-care agenda — universal coverage, as they call it,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.
SCHIP was created more than a decade ago to help children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage.
Federal money for the program was set to expire March 31, barring action by Congress. To cover the increase in spending, the bill would boost the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes by 62 cents, to $1.01 a pack.
Opponents of the bill complained that the tobacco-tax increase hits the poor the hardest, because they are more likely to smoke than wealthier people. Many also took exception to expanding the program and Medicaid to children of newly arrived legal immigrants.
But supporters said ensuring that children had access to adequate health care was a matter of priorities. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said an estimated 4 million people have lost employer-sponsored insurance in the past year.
“Do they keep their families’ health insurance or do they put food on the table at night?” he said.
In Colorado, the bill is expected to preserve coverage for nearly 85,000 children currently in the program and offer new coverage to about 63,000 more.
“For too long, millions of low-income children were denied the opportunity for health care,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, a key supporter of the bill. “I am committed to finding ways to provide and improve access to health care for children in Colorado and nationwide.”
