A look at children's health insurance

A look at the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the bill vetoed Wednesday by President Bush.

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WHO THE PROGRAM SERVES

The SCHIP program, enacted in 1997, is designed to subsidize health coverage for families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. More than 6 million children participated in SCHIP at some point in 2006. Also, 670,000 adults received SCHIP coverage as a result of waivers granted to some states.

The bill Bush vetoed would expand coverage to 10 million children and move some of the adults to Medicaid.

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ELIGIBILITY

Most states now cap eligibility to families whose income is less than twice the government poverty level, or $41,228 for a family of four in 2006. New Jersey caps eligibility at 3 1/2 times the poverty level. New York state wants to cap it at four times the poverty level.

The bill would limit the full federal match to families with incomes less than three times the poverty level, or $61,842 for a family of four. New Jersey could maintain its higher income eligibility. New York would still have to get a waiver from the Health and Human Services Department to cap eligibility at $82,465 for a family of four. The Bush administration rejected New York's request last month.

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COST

The federal government now spends about $5 billion a year on the SCHIP, covering about 70 percent of its costs. States subsidize the coverage.

The bill would raise the program's annual cost to the federal government to $12 billion. The higher costs would be paid for with a 61-cent increase in the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes. That tax is now 39 cents a pack.

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UNINSURED

The Census Bureau estimates there were about 9 million children who sometime during 2006 did not have health insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 3.8 million of those uninsured children would get government coverage under the bill. It also estimates that about 2 million children now covered by private insurance would switch to SCHIP.

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WHAT NEXT

President Bush has recommended a 20 percent increase in the program's size, to an average $6 billion over the next five years and officials in his administration have indicated a willingness to negotiate. Democratic leaders in the House say they will vote on a veto override, but not immediately. The bill's supporters in the Senate have enough votes to override Bush's veto. House supporters say they are about 15 votes shy of the two-thirds majority required for a veto override. In the meantime, Congress has passed and Bush has signed legislation continuing the program at current spending levels until mid-November.