In America, Barack Obama’s plans to extend health insurance have been met with some opposition by Republican lawmakers.

The Republican’s have been attempting to slow the proposal from materialising by arguing that a bill in the Senate would draw around 2.4 million away from private health insurance onto government – sponsored coverage.

Overall, the Senate legislation would increase spending by $31.5 billion over the next 4 ½ years. The expansion would be paid for by increasing the federal excise tax and tobacco products.

However, Sen. Jon Kyl said that the plan does not do enough to limit the State Children’s Health Insurance Programme to low-income families.

Kyl noted that around a third of those who gain insurance as a result of the bill would otherwise have access to private health insurance. He stated: “We're going to replace a lot of private insurance with government insurance.”

Sen. Richard Durbin, responded to the critics that those arguing the scheme were too generous to middle-income families  and are “really out of touch with what these families face.”

Helping those achieve health insurance

SCHIP was founded in 1997, and is a federal-state partnership for families who financially have too much to qualify for Medicaid but struggle to afford private insurance.

States have broad flexibility to determine desirable candidates, and Republicans say states like New York and New Jersey are broadening the program to families with incomes that exceed the need for government assistance.

Although the Republican’s strength is their opinions, their weakness is their numbers, as they lack the votes to block the legislation as Democrats have reinforced their majorities in Congress.

Therefore, the Senate and House members will have to work out the difference in the legislation, before Barack Obama can sign the bill.

The House passed a comparable bill nearly two weeks ago by a vote of 289-129. Forty Republican’s voted in favour to the measure.

What Barack Obama is advocating is new to America. In 2007, former President George W. Bush twice vetoed Democratic-led bills to expand children’s health insurance cover. Obama has said he hopes the Senate will act with urgency so the new bill can be reauthorized and expanded.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid commented on Bush’s decision to ban an expansion: “Jeopardizing the health of American children is not a political victory for anyone. It's a loss for everyone. It's long past time that we corrected it.”

Sen. Max Baucus is also a supporter of SCHIP by stating that the number of uninsured children has been cut by a third due to the programme and claims that the new bill would mean families with higher incomes would get less funding from the federal government than they would normally get via SCHIP.

To pay for the plan’s expansion, lawmakers have proposed increasing the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1. That is a 61 cent increase. Baucus said this will be a plus: “Increasing the cigarette tax will discourage smoking, particularly among teens. And that will be good for kids, too.”