Disconnect Over Children's Health

This article from the Wall Street Journal explains the issue in the most evenhanded nature of any other articles I have read. While it is easy to say this is for the poor children, this article explains why the issue of SCHIP isn't so cut and dried.

Plan for Poor Stalls
as President, Congress
Debate Government's Role
By SARAH LUECK
September 27, 2007; Page A4

Washington

Expanding health care for poor children was supposed to be easy -- or at least easier than a lot of other health-care issues facing Congress.

But tension between lawmakers and the White House is bogging down efforts to renew the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP. The stumbles -- despite cooperation between parties -- is a worrisome sign for Democrats seeking to make their agenda -- from spending bills to Iraq policy -- into reality.

At the heart of the fight, which could come to a head next week with a presidential veto, is a simple question: How involved should the government be in paying for health care for the uninsured? President Bush says Congress is spending too much to subsidize families who can afford private coverage. Democrats and some Republicans say expanding the program is the best way to provide insurance to more of the nearly nine million children who lack it.

Complicating matters further, the debate has unfolded amid a presidential campaign in which Democratic and Republican candidates are taking starkly different stances on health care. Because Congress will likely pass a patch to keep CHIP running past its Sept. 30 expiration, the argument is set to run for months.

When Democrats took the majority in Congress this year, they cited the expansion of CHIP as a priority, even as Mr. Bush took a harder line against growth in the program. The bill now moving through Congress represents a middle ground between what many Democrats wanted and what Mr. Bush said he would support. Democratic lawmakers scaled back their ambitions on both spending and policy in the interest of taking a unified stand.