In 2007 and 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed an expansion of health care to 4,000,000 more children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). The Senate overrode those vetoes, but the House fell a few votes short of the 2/3rds needed. One of the first acts of the Obama Administration and Congress last year was passing this expansion of children’s health care.

As a result, about 2.6 million previously uninsured children gained coverage last year in government health programs, according to a federal study released this week. The gains were due to increased need because of the recession and stepped-up recruitment efforts by some states.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Thursday attributed much of the increase in enrollment in the programs to Congress last February reauthorizing CHIP, which gave states millions of new dollars to expand coverage and financial incentives to make it easier to enroll children.

“Most of these families would not have had the help without” the legislation, Sebelius said at an event at a Washington D.C. child care center.

Nineteen states last year either increased eligibility in Medicaid or CHIP, eliminated monthly premiums or simplified enrollment procedures. Unfortunately, fifteen states scaled back coverage.

But 5 million uninsured children who are eligible for the state-federal coverage programs are not enrolled. To make it easier to get kids signed up for government health coverage, Sebelius has offered to allow states to tap into data on families who already qualify for food stamps.

Children would have not made these gains without the American electorate rejecting politicians opposed to expanding health care for children. John McCain voted against expanding health care for children and would have rejected this expansion. As a result, more children would be uninsured today had he been elected president.