SCHIP Action Moves To Senate

Maybe it 's just me looking at this as crazy, or maybe the U. S. Public went back to sleep.

from the following article:

"SCHIP now covers about 7 million children and is set to expire March 31".

"Analysts say H.R. 2 would add about 4.1 million children to SCHIP, at a cost of about $32 billion."

"The Senate SCHIP bill would add 3.9 million children to SCHIP at a cost of $31.5 billion, analysts say"

for this math - call it 7 million plus an even 4 million children

that's 11,000,000 children insured for $ 31,500,000,000 - that's $ 3,000 per child, per year, of Federal dollars.

That cost does not include the matching state dollars, plus the co-pay schedule at the Dr.'s office.

Yet I can do children's policies all day long for $ 1,500 per child, per year, and be profitable.

Now does anyone wonder why Universal Healthcare is going to break the Federal Bank, when we, the taxpayer will pay twice as much for the service?

SCHIP Action Moves To Senate

BY ARTHUR D. POSTAL
Washington Bureau -- NU Online News Service, Jan. 14, 2009, 3:38 p.m. EST

House members today voted 289-139 to pass H.R. 2, a bill that would extend and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The Senate Finance Committee will vote on a similar bill Thursday morning, according to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the committee. SCHIP now covers about 7 million children and is set to expire March 31. Analysts say H.R. 2 would add about 4.1 million children to SCHIP, at a cost of about $32 billion. The Senate SCHIP bill would add 3.9 million children to SCHIP at a cost of $31.5 billion, analysts say. Both bills would extend SCHIP for 4.5 years. America’s Health Insurance Plans, Washington, has issued a statement praising the House vote. “Today, the House voted to ensure children in working families have comprehensive coverage for essential health care services, including primary care, preventive care, and immunizations,” AHIP President Karen Ignagni. SCHIP expansion is “an important building block for comprehensive health care reform,” Ignagni says. Ignagni notes that AHIP has worked with a broad coalition of groups in support of SCHIP reauthorization. “We expect minimal hiccups on the path to passage and enactment” of an SCHIP extension bill, Beth Mantz Steindecker and Ira Loss, health care experts at Washington Analysis, Washington, write in a commentary. House Republicans have been trying to draw attention to provisions in the House bill that relate to children who are legal immigrants. The House bill would let states waive a federally mandated 5-year waiting period for public benefits for children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants. Provision supporters say it would help states add 400,000 to 600,000 children to SCHIP. But more than 100 House Republicans have signed a letter opposing the bill because the bill does not specifically outlaw coverage of the children of illegal immigrants. “Without strict limits on who is eligible for the program, the ability of disadvantaged children to access this program will be jeopardized,” according to a spokesman for Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the House minority leader.