The Clash Over Children’s Health Insurance
September 22, 2007, 4:34pm
It’s crunch time for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Known by the acronym S-CHIP, the program is set to expire within days, but President Bush and Democrats in Congress remain divided over its future funding. Bush used his weekly radio address to reiterate his veto threat against the bill passed by Democrats.
“The proposal congressional leaders are pushing would raise taxes on working Americans and would raise spending by $35 to $50 billion,” Bush said. “Their proposal would result in taking a program meant to help poor children and turning it into one that covers children in some households with incomes of up to $83,000 a year. And their proposal would move millions of children who now have private health insurance into government-run health care.
“Our goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage — not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage.”
He vowed to continue working toward a compromise and urged Congress to send him a “clean, temporary extension” before S-CHIP funding expires Sept. 30.
Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell chastised the Bush administration for making renewal of S-CHIP a “partisan issue” and threatening a veto of the bill. “The health of our children is far too important for partisan politics as usual,” Rendell said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address. “A veto battle in Washington would expose millions of children to the risk of losing insurance. That’s simply unacceptable.”
He noted that governors in both parties have been working together to expand health insurance coverage for children. He said the administration approved an expansion of Pennsylvania’s “Cover All Kids” program. “And now we are providing coverage to 93 percent of the children in families where the income is less than 250″ of the federal poverty level.”
But Rendell added that the administration recently changed S-CHIP rules in a way “that could halt the efforts of these and other states to cover more kids.” He urged Americans to contact the White House and their lawmakers and urge them to support legislation to reauthorize the S-CHIP program.
Categories: Podcast of the Week, Pennsylvania, White House, Health, Weekly Radio Address, Edward Rendell, Vetoes
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