House extends kids’ health insurance, but clash looms

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a fiveyear extension of a children’s health-insurance program that provides coverage to 219,000 children in Ohio, but the bill is headed toward a collision with a bipartisan version in the Senate.

Although the measure cleared the House 242-174 Friday, all but three House Democrats opposed it because they say the GOP is using children’s health to chip away at the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

The bill heads to the Senate, where lawmakers are working on a different approach to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, often called CHIP.

The House bill would extend CHIP by cutting $10.5 billion from a program created by Obamacare that helps finance improvements in the public health system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now receives a large chunk of that money. In addition, the bill increases Medicare premiums for the wealthiest seniors.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, assailed the proposal, saying Republicans “recklessly let funding” for children’s health expire at the end of September.

“The Republicans own this disaster, and I’m disheartened that they see the need to make children suffer in order to bail themselves out of it,” Ryan said.

Republicans Pat Tiberi of Genoa Township, Jim Jordan of Urbana, Bill Johnson of Marietta, Steve Stivers of Upper Arlington, Mike Turner of Dayton and Bob Gibbs of Lakeville supported the bill. Ryan and Democrats Joyce Beatty of Jefferson Township, Marcia Fudge of Cleveland and Marcy Kaptur of Toledo opposed it.

Beatty blasted the GOP for “forcing draconian cuts on community health programs that help at-risk Americans and countless working families in exchange for CHIP funding.”

With the backing of Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman, the Senate Finance Committee last month approved its $9 billion version that would guarantee that children keep their coverage through 2019. But the Senate bill does not cut other programs to pay for it.