House Democrats offer child health plan

Democrats offer proposal for child health plan-

This populist conservative supports this proposal. We have too many children in our nation that are uninsured. The numbers that President Bush has regarding the uninsured children are way underestimated. How much does it cost? $3.50 per day per kid. How are they going to support the proposed increase in spending? Increase in the cigarette taxes. Is this bad. NO. Contact your Congressman to support this proposal.

WASHINGTON—House Democrats would rely less on tobacco taxes than the Senate would and more on cuts to Medicare insurers to pay for a proposed $50 billion expansion of a children's health insurance program.
The proposal, introduced late Tuesday, also would eliminate a 10 percent cut in the reimbursement rate for doctors who treat Medicare patients that is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. Instead, the legislation would give doctors a 0.5 percent increase in their reimbursement rates each of the next two years when they treat Medicare patients.
Democrats would pay for the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, through a 45-cent increase in the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes and by lowering payments to many insurance plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program over the next four years.
The Senate bill would increase cigarette taxes by 61 cents a pack to pay for a smaller, $35 billion expansion, pushing overall spending over the next five years to $60 billion.
President Bush has indicated he would veto the Senate bill. The White House has recommended a $5 billion increase in the program.
"If he wants to veto health care for kids, historians will deal with that," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif.
The 10-year-old program subsidizes the cost of insuring children living in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

Read the article at MercuryNews.