On Feb. 4, 2009 President Barack Obama signed
into law the Children's Health Insurance
Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R. 2).
The 4.5-year reauthorization extends coverage
to an additional 4 million uninsured children
and maintains coverage for nearly 7 million
more. It also expands the State Children's
Health Insurance Program to families with
incomes up to 300 percent of the federal
poverty level and allows states to drop a
five-year waiting period required of legal
immigrant children and pregnant women who
seek public coverage. The additional $32.8
billion needed to pay for this program will
be funded through an increase in federal
tobacco taxes.
At a signing ceremony Obama called the bill
"a down payment" on his pledge to provide
health insurance coverage to all Americans
and said the reauthorization is particularly
urgent because of the deepening economic crisis.
Watch
the President's speech on YouTube, read a
summary or full text of the bill, and review
a cost analysis of the program.
