House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said the SCHIP bill would be among the first healthcare bills considered in the new Congress under the Obama administration.

But approving SCHIP won't be easy. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said the SCHIP bill passed by the senate last week disregarded extensive bipartisan negotiations over the past two years.

Though many say the SCHIP reauthorization is a shoe-in, if Obama is true to his word on bipartisan good will, he will have his hands full smoothing ruffled Republican feathers on an issue that Congress seems bent on passing as soon as possible.

With the economy and the state of the nation said to be the worst since the Great Depression, Obama continues to show optimism in the American people to overcome the odds. In a pre-inaugural speech Sunday night on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he urged every American to do his or her part.

In a pre-inaugural package of papers released Jan. 16 by Health Affairs, Reps. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Michael Castle (R-Del.) said Obama has a chance to achieve healthcare reform and universal coverage, particularly if he acts within the first six months of his administration.

The two House members predicted that partisan bickering will present a serious but not insurmountable obstacle to health reform, and they suggested that fears of opposition to reform from interests such as the insurance industry and small business may be overrated.

Another bit of good news for the new president: A recently released CMS national health spending report showed 2007 healthcare spending at its lowest rate of overall growth since 1998. CMS researchers said slower prescription drug spending contributed to the slowed healthcare spending.