I might as well say it outloud, because that’s what the debate over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) all boils down to now. The Wall Street Journal reports that President Bush compromised with Congress on a key point of the legislation he vetoed a scant few weeks ago – like he said he was willing to do;
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said the administration would be willing to let states cover health-care for children in families earning as much as 300% of the poverty level, or about $60,000 for a family of four, if certain conditions are met. That’s up from the White House’s previous threshold of 200%.
But OMB said the new bill doesn’t cap income eligibility at 300% because it doesn’t close a loophole allowing states to enroll children in families with incomes higher than $62,000 a year by ignoring part of the family’s income.
That’s the OMB talking – the same people whom Democrats line up behind when they point out failures of the Administration. So the administration is willing to compromise on a this most important point that Democrats whined the loudest about a few weeks ago. I don’t agree with the Adminstration’s caving on this, but the fact remains that they did.
So why is the President threatening a veto again on this particular version of SCHIP – well, ask OMB;
In a statement of administration policy, OMB complained that the bill would expand SCHIP coverage without assuring that poor children are already enrolled in the program, provide coverage for adults through 2012, move children away from private health insurance and cost more than the first SCHIP bill.
So instead of providing the poorest children with health insurance first – the Democrats whole arguement for passing SCHIP in any form – they’re more interested in expanding coverage willy-nilly. In effect, beginning a national healthcare plan – and they’re willing to suffer another embarrassing veto to make an issue of it for the campaign.
Seems to me, if Democrats were more interested in insuring children, they’d compromise – the President has comprised, why can’t Democrats? Well, because they want the issue more than they want actual results.
Democrats say the revised legislation more clearly defines who is eligible for SCHIP and rules out illegal aliens from the program. It also would phase out adults receiving SCHIP benefits more quickly than the original bill.
“Phase out adults more quickly”? What does the “C” stand for? If it was me writing this legislation, adults would be phased out tomorrow morning. Can you believe Democrats are whining “about the children” and they’ve got adults on the program now and poor children aren’t included?
What planet is this?
