House votes to widen child health care

By Lisa Mascaro

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley rose to speak on the House floor Wednesday to support what she called long overdue legislation to expand health care for poor and middle class children — a bill twice vetoed by President George W. Bush.

The bill would impose a 61-cents-a-pack tax hike on cigarettes to add 4 million children to the 7 million enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“Coming from a state with one of the highest percentages of uninsured children, I know how important it is to reauthorize SCHIP and extend the program to cover more low-income children,” Berkley said on the floor.

Berkley and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus were among 289 lawmakers voting to pass a bill that had become a signature issue of their party in Congress.

Polls showed expanding children’s health care had been supported by wide majorities when Congress was debating the issue in 2007. Still, the House could not reach the veto-proof majority needed to pass it into law.

But securing the two-thirds necessary to overcome a veto became less vital now that President-elect Barack Obama is coming to the White House.

Obama sent the House a congratulatory message, and urged swift passage in the Senate so the bill “can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am President.”

In Nevada, as many as 70,000 youngsters are projected to be eligible for free health care because their families earn less than $40,000 annually. These families earn too much to qualify for health care through Medicaid.

Nevada Check-Up, as the program is called locally, enrolled nearly 40,000 children in 2007, Berkley said. The extra funding will help the state identify and cover others who qualify but are going without health care.

Titus called the bill’s passage a nice start to the new era in Washington.

“I can’t understand how you would vote against extending health insurance to children,” Titus said after the vote.

Yet for all the talk of a bipartisan agreement to pass the bill Wednesday, the legislation attracted just 40 Republicans to vote yes — about as many as when it passed the House in 2007.

Former Republican Rep. Jon Porter had been among those Republicans who crossed party lines to support the bill in 2007 and 2008, and voted to override Bush’s veto.

Republicans grumbled that the bill had the same flaws as last time. They maintained that it would spend funds on adults rather than the low-income children it was designed to help, and pull families away from private health care plans in favor of the state-run program.

Republicans also said the bill would allow illegal immigrants to get services — a claim Democrats called a “fairy tale.” Democrats said they had bolstered restrictions to prevent undocumented residents from accessing the program.

Republican Sen. John Ensign had voted against the bill in 2007, but has not said how he would vote if it comes before the Senate.

Republican Rep. Dean Heller voted against it Wednesday. He had voted against the two bills Bush vetoed. Heller said the bill would allow coverage of illegal immigrants because they could use fake Social Security cards to sign up.