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Senate passes children's health bill

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:15:06 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has approved legislation that would increase spending on children’s health insurance and extend government-sponsored coverage to 4 million uninsured children.
The bill passed 66-32 and now goes back to the House, where a similar measure was approved two weeks ago.
Democratic lawmakers consider the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program one of their top domestic priorities.
They have moved quickly this year to renew the program and give President Barack Obama an early political victory.
The bill calls for increasing federal taxes on tobacco products to generate an additional $32 billion over the next 4 1/2 years. Even with the program’s expansion, an estimated 5 million children will still be without health insurance.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers inched closer Thursday to giving President Barack Obama an early health care victory as they considered extending government-sponsored health insurance coverage to about 4 million uninsured children.
The Senate was expected to pass the legislation late Thursday after Democrats spent much of the day fending off Republican amendments. The House plans to take up the same measure next week.
The bill calls for an additional $32 billion over the next 4 1/2 years for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Even with the added spending, an estimated 5 million children still will be without health insurance. During his election campaign, Obama called for requiring all children to have health coverage.
The bill pays for expanding SCHIP by increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes from 39 cents to $1 a pack. Opponents argued that the tax would hit the poor the hardest.
Republicans opposed letting states use federal dollars to cover children of newly arrived legal immigrants, saying that the immigrants’ sponsors had pledged that those coming to the United States would not be dependent on government assistance. Republican opponents also sought stricter income limits for participating families so that some states would focus more on covering children of the working poor.
Current law requires a five-year waiting period before legal immigrants become eligible for coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP. Democrats said that removing the ban would help children before small health problems became big ones.
“It is likely many of these children are already U.S. citizens and many will become U.S citizens, and their being unhealthy doesn’t make sense for that family, and it certainly does not make sense for our nation.” said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
Support for expanding SCHIP has had strong, bipartisan support. In 2007, former President George W. Bush twice vetoed bills to expand the program. The Senate voted to override Bush, but the House fell about 15 votes short of an override.
Scores of interest groups have lined up in support of more money for SCHIP, including trade groups representing insurers, hospitals, doctors, unions and the pharmaceutical industry.
Some Republican senators complained that Democrats had worked closely with many of them on SCHIP in the past but had ignored them this year when crafting the bill.
“I think we could have had 95 votes,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “That would have sent a tremendous, tremendous message that hasn’t been sent around here for a long time.
More than 7 million children were enrolled in SCHIP at some point in 2008. The program was created more than a decade ago as a way to provide health care to children in families with incomes too high to quality for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage.
The House already has approved a bill to expand SCHIP. It’s comparable to the Senate bill, except it included a provision opposed by physicians and supported by the influential American Hospital Association. That provision would have prevented new physician-owned hospitals from opening, but it’s not part of the Senate bill.
Republicans said they are fearful that Democrats are using SCHIP to increase the government’s role in providing health care. They said about 2.4 million children who otherwise would have access to private insurance will also join SCHIP in coming years.
Democrats responded to those concerns by requiring any state covering families earning more than three times the federal poverty level, or $63,600 for a family of four, to be reimbursed at Medicaid levels rather than the higher SCHIP level.
But the bill allowed an exception for New Jersey and New York. Lawmakers said a family of four in New York could potentially qualify for SCHIP even if the family’s income came to about $85,000.
“These are certainly not low-income families,” said Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who unsuccessfully tried to remove the exemption for the two states.

US Congress passes children health insurance bill

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:07:06 +0000

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress approved on
Wednesday a bill expanding a health insurance program for
children and raising tobacco taxes to pay for it, giving
President Barack Obama a big legislative victory a day after
his pick to lead a healthcare industry overhaul stepped aside.
The House of Representatives voted 290-135 for the $32.8
billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance
Program, or SCHIP, which was approved by the Senate last week.
Democratic leaders are rushing the bill to Obama, who plans
to sign it at a White House ceremony on Wednesday. Former
Republican President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar
legislation.
“Today, the objective of years of work will be
substantially advanced. With this vote, and with President
Obama’s immediate signature, this bill will at long last be
law,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
The signing ceremony should provide a lift for Obama a day
after he acknowledged mistakes in the handling of Tom Daschle’s
nomination as his point man to lead a broader overhaul of the
$2.3 trillion U.S. healthcare industry.
Daschle, a former Senate minority leader, withdrew his name
from consideration as secretary of health and human services
because of tax problems.
The SCHIP program aims to help working families who cannot
afford private health insurance but earn too much to qualify
for Medicaid healthcare coverage for the poor. The additional
money for the program will help states insure as many as 11
million children, compared with about 7.4 million currently
enrolled in the program.

Mother's diet makes for 'weighty' children

admin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:42:05 +0000

Washington (IANS): Offsprings of both lean and obese primate mothers being fed a high-fat diet showed an increased risk of developing non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
If such monkeys were reverted to a low-fat diet during a subsequent pregnancy, this second offspring exhibited fewer signs of NAFLD.
This finding contradicts the thinking that a mother’s obesity during pregnancy is contributing to the rising incidence of obese children in the US, who are being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes and NAFLD.
However, a team at Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton and University of Colorado Aurora, led by Kevin Grove and Jacob Friedman, suspect that a developing foetus is highly susceptible to maternal consumption of excess fat, whether or not the mother is obese, according to an Oregon release.

Children's hospital exec guilty of child porn

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:26:42 +0000

SAN JOSE, Calif.—An 51-year-old administrator at a Bay Area children’s hospital has pleaded guilty to transmitting and possessing child pornography.
Thomas Edward Green Jr., of San Jose, pleaded guilty to two felony counts Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose. Green is the director of the patient financial services department for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.
Prosecutors say Green admitted that he sent at least 67 e-mails in 2006 containing images of child pornography, including “sadistic and masochistic conduct,” to people with whom he corresponded in online chat rooms.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of at least five years in prson, and up to the maximum statutory penalty of 20 years imprisonment.

Children’s health care bill expected to be one of Obama's first …

admin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:42:24 +0000

WASHINGTON – Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) last week joined a majority in the House of Representatives in support of bipartisan legislation to provide health care to 11 million children from working families.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2) was approved by a vote of 289-139.
The bill is very similar to the legislation that President Bush vetoed twice in the 110th Congress.
“Investing in children’s health care is one of the wisest choices our federal government can make,” Thompson said during a speech on the House of Representatives floor. “Children have to be healthy to get an education and achieve their full potential as adults. When kids see the doctor more regularly, they receive the preventive services that keep them healthier longer – and they are less likely to end up in the emergency room, which saves everyone money.”
Thompson said almost a million and a quarter children in California are uninsured, which he called “simply unacceptable.”
He said that, in contrast to President Bush’s multiple vetoes of similar bills, President-elect Obama gave his enthusiastic support to providing coverage for 4 million additional children. “That is truly change we can believe in,” Thompson said.
SCHIP was created in 1997 to provide health care coverage for children in families that earn too little to afford health insurance for their children but too much to qualify for Medicaid.
The bill passed last week by the House of Representatives reauthorizes SCHIP through 2013 and preserves the coverage for all 7.1 million children currently covered by SCHIP, including 1,538,416 children in California.
Thompson's office has previously estimated that 1,600 Lake County children will receive coverage under the legislation.
The bill also extends health care coverage to 4.1 million additional low-income children, who are currently uninsured. The bill is fully paid for.
This bipartisan bill has been endorsed by dozens of organizations, representing millions of Americans – ranging from business groups such as the National Federation of Independent Businesses and Business Roundtable to the American Hospital Association, AARP and Families USA.

Children's health debate moves to Senate

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:51:39 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation that would increase spending for children’s health care has lost support from some key Senate Republicans, but they acknowledged that they probably can’t do much to block the effort.
Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said Democrats lost his support for the estimated $32 billion spending increase when they sought to extend coverage to children of legal immigrants and did not take certain steps to prevent higher-income people from participating in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Grassley sided with Democrats two years ago and tried to help them overcome two vetoes by President Bush. He said he felt like he had been “thrown overboard” as Democrats rush to give President-elect Barack Obama an early victory on health care.
“Next week we will have a president who will sign the SCHIP legislation,” Grassley said.
The additional spending sought for SCHIP would provide government-sponsored coverage to an additional 4 million uninsured children. About 7 million people are now in the program.
Democratic senators countered that a bill being considered in the Senate Finance Committee Thursday was quite comparable to legislation that had broad support in 2007. President Bush vetoed that legislation.
“But then the American people spoke,” said Sen. Max Baucus, the Finance Committee’s chairman. “And now, with strong support from President-elect Obama, we will finally be able to respond.”
In the House on Wednesday, 40 Republicans joined Democrats in passing a spending increase for the children’s health program. The vote was 289-139.
The bill would raise the federal excise tax on cigarettes by 61 cents to $1 a pack to pay for the SCHIP expansion. The bill before the Finance Committee also calls for the tobacco tax increase.
Obama said he hoped the Senate acts with the “same sense of urgency so that it can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am president.”
“In this moment of crisis, ensuring that every child in America has access to affordable health care is not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens,” he said.
Democrats would like to send a House-Senate compromise to Obama for his signature as an early victory signifying the party’s control of both the White House and Congress for the first time since 1994.
“This is only the beginning of the change we will achieve with our new president,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who got a congratulatory call from Obama after Wednesday’s vote.
In reviewing the House bill, the Congressional Budget Office projected that nearly 83 percent of the 4.1 million uninsured children who would gain coverage are in families with incomes below current eligibility limits. About 700,000 children would gain coverage because their states broadened eligibility.
Most of the children who gain coverage live in families with incomes of less than twice the federal poverty level — $42,400 for a family of four, analysts said. However, some states have expanded their programs to cover families with incomes as high as three times the federal poverty level — or $63,600 for a family of four.
Republicans pointed to budget office estimates that the bill would shift more than 2 million children currently with private coverage to government-provided care.

House Votes to Expand Children’s Health Care

admin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:37:41 +0000

, the House on Wednesday passed a bill to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program. President Bush twice had vetoed similar legislation.
Mr. Obama will probably be able to sign the bill within days of taking office on Tuesday. The Senate might take action within a week.
The House vote was 289 to 139. Supporters never mustered more than 273 votes for similar legislation in the last two years.
The bill, which would extend coverage to four million uninsured children, symbolizes the shift in priorities in Washington. The vote came five days after the House, defying a veto threat from Mr. Bush, passed two bills to combat sex discrimination by employers who pay women less than men doing the same or substantially similar work.
The child health bill would provide $32.3 billion over four and a half years to continue coverage for seven million children who now rely on the program and to extend coverage to more than four million who are uninsured.
“This is a day of triumph for America’s children,” Speaker
of California said. “We put women and children first.”
After years of frustration, Democrats were exultant.
“Today is a new day,” Representative Dave Loebsack of Iowa. Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, said, “Passing this bill sends a very important signal that change has come to Washington as a result of the last election.”
, Democrat of New Jersey, said the bill was a down payment on Mr. Obama’s promise to make health insurance available to all Americans
“In this moment of crisis, ensuring that every child in America has access to affordable health care is not just good economic policy, but a moral obligation we hold as parents and citizens,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.“That is why I’m so pleased that Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives came together to provide health insurance to over ten million children whose families have been hurt most by this downturn. This coverage is critical, it is fully paid for, and I hope that the Senate acts with the same sense of urgency so that it can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am President.”
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to approve a similar bill on Thursday, with action by the full Senate to follow quickly.
The bills would be financed by an increase in tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent increase in the tax on cigarettes, to $1 pack.
The House bill includes a major new provision that would allow states to restore health insurance benefits to legal immigrants under 21. Under current law, legal immigrants are generally barred from
for five years after they enter the United States. The House bill would allow states to do away with that waiting period for children and pregnant women.
House Republicans raised several objections to the bill. While the cost of the child health program will increase, they said, tobacco revenues will not, so the government will face a widening gap that will probably be filled with additional tax increases in the future.
Moreover, Republicans said, under the bill, some of the money will be spent to provide public coverage for children who already have private health insurance through their parents’ employers.
Republicans also complained that the bill did not require states to cover the poorest children first, before covering children from middle-income families.
But the difference between the old Congress and the new one was illustrated by the vote of Representative Alan Grayson, Democrat of Florida, who defeated Representative Ric Keller, a Republican, in November.
In explaining why he voted for the bill on Wednesday, Mr. Grayson said: “I was a very sick child. I had to go to the hospital four times a week for treatment. If it weren’t for my parents’ union health benefits, I would not be here today.” By contrast, Mr. Keller voted against nearly identical bills.
Another new House member, Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania, said she too had been inspired by her own experience.
“One of my goals in running for Congress was to ensure that all eligible kids have health care,” Ms. Dahlkemper said. “I gave birth to one of my children without health insurance due to having a pre-existing condition at the change of a job, and that pre-existing condition was pregnancy.”
Democrats said the recession and rising unemployment had increased the need for the bill. Since the House last voted on the issue in January 2008, the number of unemployed has increased nearly 50 percent, to 11.1 million. People often lose health insurance when they lose their jobs.
“At a time of rising unemployment, this legislation is more important than ever,” said Representative Mike McMahon, a freshman Democrat from New York.

Local Chili’s give $500000 for Kosair Children’s Hospital

admin — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:53:25 +0000

Chili’s Grill & Bar restaurants in Louisville and Bardstown have donated $500,000 to support the
“Just for Kids” Campaign.
’s Dance Marathon Saturday at the Swain Student Activities Center.
Students raised pledges to stay up all night Friday through noon Saturday to raise funds for the hospital.
“We’re always amazed at the outpouring of support when we mention Kosair Children’s Hospital,” Julie Young, marketing manager for
, which does business as Chili’s, said in a news release.
Money was raised through the sale of paper hot air balloons at the restaurants in late January and early February, she said.

Senate Passes Health Insurance Bill for Children

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:12:50 +0000

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is aimed at families earning too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance, currently covers close to 7 million youngsters at a cost of $25 billion.
Lawmakers voted 66 to 32, largely along party lines, to renew the joint state-federal program and spend an additional $32.8 billion to expand coverage to 4 million more children. The expansion would be paid for by raising the cigarette tax from 39 cents a pack to $1.
The House approved similar legislation on Jan. 14, and President Obama is expected to sign a final version as early as next week.
During the presidential campaign, Obama pledged to provide coverage to every American child. Experts estimate that once the program is fully implemented about 5 million youngsters will remain uninsured.
Democratic lawmakers, noting that President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar legislation, praised the vote as evidence of the changing Washington landscape.
“Low-income, uninsured kids all across America have been waiting for Congress to fulfill the promise of the Children’s Health Insurance Program for them,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman
(Mont.). The program “works to get low-income, uninsured kids the doctor’s visits and medicines they need to stay healthy, and approval of this bill opens the door of the doctor’s office to millions of children who live without proper health care today.”
But the political victory may come at a price. The rancorous debate — on a program that once basked in bipartisan popularity — raised doubts about whether the two parties can unite to pass broader health reform later this year, several moderate Republicans said.
“This is a very unfortunate beginning,” said
(Iowa). The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, a stalwart supporter of the program, said he was “disgusted” by the way Democratic leaders handled the debate. “It does not bode well for cooperative work in the coming months,” he said. But Grassley emphasized that he did not blame Baucus for the change in substance and style.
As the vote came just one day after the House passed an $819 billion economic stimulus package without a single Republican vote, some longtime lawmakers questioned the president’s ability to forge a new era of cooperation in the capital.
“If they wanted a nice signing ceremony that showed bipartisanship and carried through on the president’s language, this would have been a good vehicle to do it on,” said
(R-N.H.).
Since its creation in 1997 under a Republican-led Senate, the children’s health program has received broad bipartisan support.

Santa visits sick children in the hospital

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:32:16 +0000

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Kids at the MCGHealth Children’s Hospital got a surprise visit by Santa on Christmas.
He brought gifts by the sleigh-full for the whole family as he stopped in to see more than 60 good little boys and girls.
Many of the children were too sick to go home for Christmas, so Santa came to them to bring some cheer.
Jervonna McBride spent Christmas day at MCGHealth visiting her son, Calvin. Calvin has an advanced form of Leukemia that requires him to get a bone marrow transplant if he is to survive.
“That just put us over the edge. We really didn’t expect all this,” said McBride. “This really did it. Calvin’s happy. I’m happy.”
All of the toys and gifts were donated from families and business around the Augusta area.