Smokers Will Be Paying For Expansion Of Health Care For Children

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Washington (dbTechno) - One of the first bills to pass once President Barack Obama took office was the expansion of SCHIP, extending health care coverage to children.
The expansion of health care coverage is in the form of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
There has been a push for years now to try and expand this program, but such moves were never able to make it fully through.
This was due to the fact that there was never a version of the expansion of SCHIP that all could agree on. Past versions were vetoed by former pesident George W. Bush as well.
This time though the expansion of child health insurance has become a reality.
There are around 6 million children enrolled in the program currently, and with the expansion, it is believed that another 5 million will be added on top.
In total, in order to actually pay for this expansion, the bill is going to come to $32.8 billion.
The way in which this will be paid is out of the pockets of smokers.
The federal tax on cigarettes will increase all the way up to $1.01 per pack, up from around 60 cents currently.
SCHIP is aimed at children in families who cannot afford private health insurance, but do not fall under Medicare rules.