U.S. President George W. Bush signed a bill on Saturday to extend a popular children's health insurance program.

 

As the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, is extended, the states will continue to receive money from the federal government to cover health insurance of children that have been enrolled through March 2009.

 

"We're pleased that the program will be extended and that states can be certain of their funding," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

 

The SCHIP now subsidizes healthcare insurance coverage for about 6 million children at an annual cost of about 5 billion dollars. According to the Bush's administration, those that are covered come from families who earn too much to qualify for traditional public health benefits but cannot afford private insurance.

 

However, Democrats that dominate the Congress attempted to not only extend but also expand the program, proposing a bill twice that would provided an extra 35 billion U.S. dollars over five years to cover 4 more billion children, most of them from low- income families.

 

Citing the bill being "too costly," Bush vetoed it and only nodded an extra 5 billion dollars to expand the program.

 

The debate over the SCHIP, according to U.S. analysts and media, was ended in a victory for the Bush's administration, but Democrats insist that it would make Republicans lose votes in the coming presidential elections.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2007)