House Vote: Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act
Summary: Expands health coverage to 5.1 million uninsured children and improves the overall quality and efficiency of the health care system
Result: Bill Passed
A vote for the bill was counted as a + vote (in line with LCCR's position)
View individual member votes on this bill by state:
Bill Name: Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007
Bill Number: H.R. 3162
Issue: Health
Date: 08/01/07
Roll Call No. 787
In August 2007, the House passed the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP Act), which would have authorized roughly $86 billion – an increase of $50 billion – over five years for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and made several changes to Medicare and other related programs.
The bill would have expanded the federal subsidy program for low-income Medicare beneficiaries, eliminated the late enrollment penalty in the Medicare prescription drug program, and made permanent the program that helps low-income people pay their Medicare premiums.
In addition, the bill would have guaranteed dental coverage for children enrolled in the program and required parity for mental-health coverage.
The bill also included the Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act (LICHIA), which would have ended the five-year ban on covering legal immigrant children under SCHIP and Medicaid.
The CHAMP Act also included provisions that would benefit all people by improving the overall quality and efficiency of the health care system.
CHAMP would fund a non-profit organization to develop and promote consensus-based quality measures and advance the use of electronic health records; establish a commission to promote objective research comparing drugs and other treatments for specific conditions to determine which are the most effective; and promote better understanding of racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
LCCR supported the CHAMP Act because the increased funding in the bill would have expanded health insurance coverage to 5.1 million uninsured children and improved the overall quality and efficiency of the health care system, benefiting all Americans.
The bill's cost would have been offset by raising the federal tobacco tax by 45 cents a pack, reducing federal payments to insurers participating in the Medicare Advantage program, phasing out over four years subsidies to insurers who charge more than Medicare reimbursement rates, and reducing the allowable growth rate for Medicare physician payments to 2.5 percent, freezing it after 2012.
Result: The CHAMP Act passed (204-225).
