Congress Makes SCHIP Deal

Congressional leaders today announced a deal to vote on a State Children’s Health Insurance Plan extension bill that would drop Medicare Advantage regulation and funding-cut provisions previously included in the House SCHIP bill.

The compromise bill also would replace current Bush administration efforts to keep states from expanding SCHIP programs to cover moderate-income children, officials say.

Instead, SCHIP programs would have to put the lowest-income children first in line for coverage to get permission to use SCHIP funding to cover children in homes earning more than 300% of the federal poverty level.