The bill that would extend coverage for four million uninsured children is one of the top priorities of the healthcare program. The latest bill is similar to legislation twice vetoed by President George W. Bush, who argued at that time the bill would push children into government-run health care instead of private plans. The measure would have expanded the State Children’s Health Insurance program by $35 million over five years and boosted its enrollment to about 10 million children.

The legislation would be a victory for President-elect Barack Obama, who said he hoped the Senate would adopt the measure 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 child health bill would provide $32.3 billion over four and a half years to continue coverage for seven million children and to extend coverage to more than four million children who are uninsured, including legal immigrant children. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that nearly 83 percent of the 4.1 million uninsured children who would gain coverage after the implementation of the program are in families with income below eligibility limits.
It would cost $32 billion over 4 1/2 years. The cost of expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for the next 4½ years will be paid for in part by raising taxes by 61 cents on a pack a cigarettes to 1$.

“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,” President-elect Barack Obama said in a statement.