The AP (2/5, Freking) reports, "Ending a two-year effort by Democrats, Obama signed legislation Wednesday that will allow about seven million children to continue coverage through the State Children's Health Insurance Program and allow an additional four million to sign up." Obama called the bill "a first step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to provide insurance for all Americans."
The Wall Street Journal (2/5, Pulizzi, Johnson) adds that Obama called it "a 'down payment' on his plans to provide coverage for all Americans. 'I refuse to accept that millions of our children fail to reach their full potential because we fail to meet their basic needs,' Mr. Obama said at a White House signing ceremony." The measure will renew SCHIP for four-and-a-half years." The legislation's "anticipated $33 billion five-year cost of the expansion will be financed by an increase in tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes that would raise the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1." In addition to the increased tobacco tax,
Bloomberg News (2/5, Marcus) notes that President Bush twice vetoed similar bills, adding that passage of the expansion "provides an early boost to Obama's healthcare agenda, dealt a setback yesterday when former U.S. Senator Thomas A. Daschle withdrew his nomination as the top administration official for revamping U.S. medical care and insurance." The Los Angeles Times (2/5, Levey) adds that the bill "marks a historic shift in Washington's political landscape and providing the White House its biggest victory since Obama took office." Democratic lawmakers "easily" won passage of the measure, which "sailed through the House earlier Wednesday on a largely party-line vote of 290-135. ... The swift passage came in marked contrast to the economic recovery package, which is mired in debate on Capitol Hill despite pleas from Obama for congressional action."
The Washington Times (2/5, Lengell) points out that "the most significant changes from 2007 versions will allow states to end the five-year waiting period for low-income, uninsured children who are legal residents, and loosens identity checks for enrollment -- provisions opposed by many Republicans." Meanwhile, "House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, said his party was 'extremely concerned' that the measure will expand coverage to some adults at the expense of children."
CQ (2/4, Armstrong), the New York Times (2/5, Pear), Minnesota's Star Tribune (2/5), WebMD (2/4, Zwillich), the Detroit Free Press (2/5, Spangler), MSNBC (2/4, Montanaro), CBS News (2/4, Montopoli), CNN (2/5), NPR (2/5, Tedford), the Baltimore Examiner (2/5, Sionna), the International Herald Tribune (2/5), UPI (2/5), and MedPage Today (2/4, Walker) also covered the story.
Final version of bill seen as victory for doctor-owned hospitals. In the Wall Street Journal (2/4, Rubenstein) Health Blog, Sarah Rubenstein wrote that the Physicians Hospitals of America, which represents hospitals owned by their doctors, is "celebrating" the bill's passage, since an earlier version had contained provisions "that would have curbed expansion of these hospitals by prohibiting Medicare payments to new ones and restricting expansion of existing ones. The restrictions were the brainchild of Rep. Pete Stark (D., Calif.), a big critic of these kinds of hospitals, which he has criticized as cherry pickers of lucrative patients, among other things." However, the Journal adds, tobacco companies are less enthusiastic, given that "analysts expect the hike to eat into sales at the three major U.S. cigarette makers, Altria Group, Reynolds American and Lorillard."
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