Why the President Was Right to Veto SCHIP

Democrats everywhere have just about wet themselves with the news of President Bush's SCHIP veto. In the scramble to paint horns on the President and draw in little children body parts between his fangs, many cannot see past the surface emotional appeal of the SCHIP expansion bill. It says it helps sick kids! Let's go vote for it! As with everything in politics, things are not as simple as they first appear and a second look can be most illuminating.

SCHIP was meant to help children from families that make too much to qualify for Medicare but not enough to buy private insurance. But the SCHIP expansion bill will step beyond this original noble pursuit and, in its exuberance, allow coverage to families who earn up to $80,000 a year. The picture not looking so pretty now, hmm?

So, health insurance for these families will no longer be an issue of need, but an issue of greed. Many will switch over from private insurance companies to this cheaper, but still comparable if not better, government-funded health care. Can we all say handout? Handout!

This is not just complaining about people who abuse the system and gain from it; Poorer families that actually need SCHIP's assistance will end up with less funds and resources. It is obscene the way Democrats are parading little kids around telling sob stories when they support a bill that will make the kids cry harder.