Published 6 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b498
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b498

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Obama signs health bill to insure four million more children

¹ New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Earlier this week President Barack Obama signed the state children’s health insurance programme bill, to extend healthcare insurance to about four million US children. Around 10 million children under the age of 18 years currently lack healthcare insurance.

The bill was passed quickly by both the House of Representatives and the Senate after President Obama took office. A commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine (doi:10.1056/NEJMp0900461) said, "The rapid action underscored Democrats’ intention to reverse or amend many health policies put in place during the Bush administration."

President George W Bush had twice vetoed previous versions of the bill, saying that it would encourage parents to drop private healthcare insurance and instead join the government programme. He also said it was a step towards socialised medicine (BMJ 2007;335:685, doi:10.1136/bmj.39356.376470.DB; 2007;335:742, doi:10.1136/bmj.39363.548715.DB; 2007;335:749, doi:10.1136/bmj.39360.488576.59).

The federal and state programme, begun . . . [Full text of this article]

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