By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, July 13
A tentative deal has been struck in the U.S. Senate to pay for the popular State Children”s Health Insurance Program by significantly increasing the federal cigarette tax.
But U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, isn”t talking about it.
“These negotiations are so sensitive Sen. Roberts cannot comment at this time,” said Sarah Little, communications director for the Kansas Republican who is seeking a third term.
Little said Roberts could comment next week when the Finance Committee is expected to begin markup of a bill to reauthorize the SCHIP program, which is set to expire at the end of September.
The Kaiser Daily Health Report and USA Today were among those reporting this week that members of the Senate Finance Committee have reached a bipartisan agreement to increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion over five years by raising the tobacco tax by 61 cents per pack, from 39 cents to $1.
Gary Brunk, executive director of Kansas Action for Children, said he also learned this week during a visit to Washington, D.C. that a tentative agreement had been reached with details to be announced soon.
“I think the negotiations on this have been pretty tough,” Brunk said.
Democrats in the Senate and House have been pushing for a $50 billion increase in spending over five years for the program that insures approximately 6.6 million children nationwide, including more than 35,000 in Kansas. But that proposal ran into stiff opposition from the Bush administration and some Republicans in the Senate opposed to expanding SCHIP eligibility.
“I strongly object to the government providing incentives for people to leave private medicine, private health care to the public sector,” Bush said on Tuesday in a speech to Cleveland business leaders. “I will resist Congress” attempt to federalize medicine.”
Two Republican senators on Thursday said in a joint statement that it was “a little unbelievable” that White House officials already were threatening a veto of the Finance Committee”s compromise legislation.
“As Republican leaders on the committee of jurisdiction, we”ve been working day and night to reach an agreement on children”s health insurance legislation because it is imperative that this important program, which has helped so many children, be continued,” said Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah.
Though Roberts has said he favors increasing SCHIP spending more than the $5 billion over five years sought by the Bush administration, he shares some of the president”s concerns about the expansion of the program. In a letter sent this week, Roberts, Grassley and Hatch urged Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to put a stop to agency waivers allowing states to enroll childless adults in SCHIP.
“We are committed to returning this program to its focus on low-income children,” the senators wrote. “While we recognize that most of the waivers were approved before your tenure as secretary, simply put, adults should not have been added to a program for low-income children.”
Despite his concerns, Roberts in an April interview left open the possibility he would support a tobacco tax increase to fund whatever increase in SCHIP funding is agreed to.
“You have to remain flexible and at least look at your options,” he said.
Brunk, who heads a state coalition that favors SCHIP expansion, said while the reported $35 billion deal is the “probably the best that can be expected in the Senate” he hopes that Congress ultimately will agree to something closer to the House”s proposed $50 billion expansion.
“We hope the House and the conference committee can do better,” he said.
In addition to higher funding, Brunk said the final bill should preserve states” flexibility to set SCHIP eligibility limits for children above 200 percent of the federal poverty level or $34,344 for a family of three. Currently 18 states exceed that level but Kansas isn”t one of them. Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius” proposal to expand SCHIP eligibility for children living in families earning up to 300 percent of poverty was rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature during the 2007 session.
-Jim McLean is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
jmclean@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 110.