Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007

The Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007 (H.R.3162) was a bill in the 110th Congress "to amend titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the children's health insurance program, to improve beneficiary protections under the Medicare, Medicaid, and the CHIP program, and for other purposes.” (Official title)

Current status


Bill summary

 * Requires state CHIP plans to provide a 12-month continuous eligibility option for low-income children whose family income is below 200% of the federal poverty level, effective January 1, 2008 (Sec 115).


 * Allows states the option of covering temporary and permanent documented immigrants under the states CHIP (Sec. 132).


 * Prohibits coverage of undocumented immigrants (Sec. 135).


 * Increases the tax on cigarettes from $19.50 to $42 per thousand on cigarettes weighing less than 3 pounds, and from $40.95 to $88.20 per thousand on cigarettes weighing more than 3 pounds (Sec. 1001 [a-b]).


 * Increases the tax on cigars that weigh less than 3 pounds per thousand from $1.828 to $42 per thousand (Sec. 1001).


 * Increases the tax on cigars weighing more than 3 pounds per thousand from 20.719 percent to 40 percent of the sale price, limited to $1 a cigar (Sec. 1001 [c-d]).


 * Increases the tax on chewing tobacco from $0.195 to $0.42 per pound (Sec. 1001 [h]).


 * Dictates that federal payments for states for the fiscal year 2008 will be the greater of either the state projection of federal payments or the federal payment from 2007 multiplied by the allotment increase factor for per capita growth or child population growth (Sec. 101).


 * Allows unused federal payments under the Social Security Act to be redistributed to address state shortfalls (Sec. 103).


 * Requires state CHIP plans to cover dental care, federally qualified health centers, and rural health centers (Sec 121).


 * Provides a 30-day grace period for premiums on state child health plans (Sec. 123).


 * Extends states' optional coverage for children from age 19 to age 21 (Sec. 131).


 * Provides states with the option to cover pregnant women as long as the income eligibility level is at least 185 percent of the federal poverty level (Sec. 133).


 * Provides coverage for preventative services including prostate cancer screening tests, colorectal cancer screening tests, diabetes outpatient self management, glaucoma screening, medical nutrition therapy, physical examinations, cardiovascular screening blood tests, diabetes screenings, abdominal aneurysm screenings, influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, hepatitis B vaccine administration, mammography screenings, pap smears and pelvic exam screenings, and bone mass measurement (Sec. 201).


 * Appropriates $300 million for fiscal years 2008-2010 to create the Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research to conduct, support, and synthesize research to determine the outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of health care services (Sec. 904).


 * Authorizes the appropriation of $50 billion for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009 to provide abstinence education, mentoring, counseling, and adult supervision to promote abstinence from sexual activity (Sec. 910).

Key votes

 * Vote to pass a bill that reauthorizes and expands the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).



Supporters

 * AFL-CIO
 * American Academy of Pediatrics
 * American Association of Retired Persons
 * American College of Emergency Physicians
 * American College of Physicians
 * American Dental Hygienists' Association
 * American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
 * American Gastroenterological Association
 * American Medical Association
 * American Osteopathic Association
 * American Society of Nephrology
 * Association for Community Affiliated Plans
 * Congress of Neurological Surgeons
 * Federation of American Hospitals
 * International Chiropractors Association
 * National Alliance on Mental Illness
 * National Alliance on Mental Illness
 * National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
 * National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions
 * National Association of Social Workers
 * National Associaton of Insurance Commissioners
 * National Committee for Quality Assurance
 * National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
 * National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
 * National Education Association

Opponents

 * American Association for Respiratory Care
 * Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
 * Citizens Against Government Waste
 * Family Research Council
 * FreedomWorks
 * National Retail Federation
 * National Right to Life Committee
 * National Taxpayers Union
 * Physician Hospitals of America
 * Society of Interventional Radiology
 * U.S. Chamber of Commerce