President Barack Obama signed the bill that extends healthcare coverage to 4 million children into a law during a White House ceremony on Wednesday. The bill was passed by the US Senate and met with overwhelming approval of the US House of Representatives and only once the bill is passed in both chambers of Congress can the President sign it into law.

The expanded healthcare coverage is a part of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which started in the 1990s to provide healthcare coverage to children who from families that were too poor to afford private health insurance and yet earned too much to qualify for the state run Medicaid program.

The bill would mean an added expense of $32.8 billion and in order to meet this amount the smokers stand to pay a substantial increase of federal tax on cigarettes which would go up from the current 62 cents a pack to $1.01 per pack.

SCHIP got Congress approval on January 29 which reauthorizes it for another 4 years and also expands its eligibility to cover approximately 11 million children nationwide. Currently SCHIP covers 7 million children.

While signing the bill President Obama said, "No child should be falling behind at school because he can't hear the teacher or see the blackboard. I refuse to accept that millions of our children fail to reach their full potential because we fail to meet their basic needs."

This statement was commended by the American Optometric Association (AOA). "Optometry commends President Obama for recognizing from the start of his term the essential link between healthy vision and learning," said Peter H. Kehoe, OD, president of the AOA. "The AOA has worked to make children's vision a top health-care priority in Washington, DC. The President's statement on Wednesday, the significant expansion of SCHIP, and the recent reintroduction in Congress of the AOA-backed Vision Care for Kids Act demonstrates that progress has been made but there's still more work to be done."