PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 6, 2009
Enhancing Health Care Coverage for Children Act - Amends title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, to revise, reauthorize, and extend the SCHIP program through FY2014.
Requires the state SCHIP plan to specify how it will achieve coverage for 85% of eligible targeted low-income children in the state.
Prohibits payment for child health assistance for a targeted low-income child in a family whose income exceeds 250% of the poverty line. Sets forth special rules for children with family income between 200% and 250% of the applicable poverty line.
Applies Medicaid citizenship documentation requirements to SCHIP.
Terminates SCHIP coverage for nonpregnant adults.
Requires that individuals who are eligible for SCHIP and employer-sponsored coverage use the employer-sponsored coverage instead of SCHIP.
People & committees
Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA] · R–LA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.82 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.82 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.82 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.82 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.