Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007

President Bush signed the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 on December 29, 2007, a health bill encompassing fairly straightforward extensions of federal health care assistance programs.

Title I: Medicare

 Title I of the law addresses various issues related to Medicare. Medicare is a program administered by the United States government that provides health insurance  to people who are 65 and older and who meet other criteria, specifically that they have been paying taxes into the social security system throughout their life. extensions.

Click here for details on the Medicare extensions. 

Title II: Medicaid and SCHIP

Title II of the Extension Act of 2007 extends legislation relating to Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Medicaid is a public health program for low-income individuals and families that meet certain income and eligibility requirements. It is jointly funded by the state and federal government, and is for the most part managed by individual states. Among the groups of people eligible for Medicaid are low-income parents, children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

Medicaid—Keeping People Insured, Filling in the Gaps

The Extension Act extends the Qualifying Individual Program (QI) through June 30, 2008 and provides enough funding to continue serving current populations already benefiting from the program. The QI program provides assistance for low-income individuals who need help meeting their monthly premiums. The Transitional Medical Assistance program (TMA) will also be extended for 6 months. TMA helps low-income individuals transition from welfare to work while still maintaining healthcare for their children.
 

SCHIP—An Extension, not an Expansion

 
President Bush signed the Extension Act of 2007 also deals with the much-debated issue of funding for the popular SCHIP program.  SCHIP targets children in families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to pay for their own coverage.  President Bush twice vetoed a bipartisan expansion effort sent to him by Congress. The expansion would have provided an additional $35 billion in funding over 5 years and would have helped cover an estimated 6.6 million children from lower and middle-income families.  The SCHIP provision in the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 expires on March 31, 2009 and provides enough funding for the program to maintain its current enrollment. The Extension Act has received criticism from advocacy groups because it does not address the CMS August directive.  The August directive caps eligibility at 250% of the federal poverty level and has forced some states to scale back their programs and expansion efforts. This extension does not reflect the strong 5-year reauthorization program that both Congress and child advocates had hoped for. 

Click Here for a section-by-section summary, including bill language.