Editorial, Op-Eds Address Debate Over SCHIP Reauthorization Bill

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 01 Oct 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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Summaries of an editorial and several opinion pieces that examine the debate over legislation to reauthorize and expand SCHIP, as well as related issues, appear below.

Editorial

• USA Today: "The argument between Congress and President Bush over whether to expand health insurance for low-income children should have an easy answer: Yes," a USA Today editorial states. Although the legislation "isn't perfect," it is "a considerable improvement on the current situation, and it has significant Republican support." The editorial continues, "It's disappointing that the president has promised to veto it and mounted an aggressive campaign against it." While "the nation should have a broader debate about health policy, ... that's unlikely to produce results before the next election," the editorial continues, concluding, "In the meantime, Congress has produced a reasonable compromise to keep millions of kids from falling through the cracks" (USA Today, 9/27).
  

Opinion Pieces

• Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times: Democratic lawmakers view the SCHIP legislation as "no-lose: Either landmark health care will be enacted over President George W. Bush's veto, or, if overridden, they'll have a lovely 2008 campaign issue," syndicated columnist Novak writes in an opinion piece. He concludes that if a veto override is unsuccessful, "Democrats will eagerly pummel Republicans for 'voting against kids' by refusing to sanction a long step toward HillaryCare" (Novak, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/27).
  
  
• Morton Kondracke, Roll Call: "Congressional Democrats hold the political high ground in their battles with President Bush over the budget and children's health -- and plan to press their advantage to the hilt," Roll Call Executive Editor Kondracke writes in an opinion piece. He continues, "The SCHIP veto reveals Bush as no compassionate conservative. And his deficit buildup shows him to be no fiscal conservative, either." Kondracke concludes, "Democrats used to be the tax-and-spend party and they may be again," but "this year -- and heading into 2008 -- they come off as the party of fiscal responsibility while the GOP is the party of tax-and-borrow" (Kondracke, Roll Call, 9/27).
  
  
• Mike Leavitt, USA Today: Instead of supporting Bush's tax code proposal to expand access to health insurance, Congress is "pushing a massive expansion" of SCHIP "that grows government without helping nearly as many children," HHS Secretary Leavitt writes in a USA Today opinion piece. He calls current tax policy "discriminatory," adding, "If Congress acted on the president's plan, nearly 20 million more Americans would have health insurance." Leavitt continues, "Congress should put politics aside and send the president a clean, temporary extension" of SCHIP, adding, "Expanding SCHIP is not the only way or the best way to insure the uninsured. The president's plan is better" (Leavitt, USA Today, 9/27).
  
  
• David Broder, Washington Post: House Republicans created a "spectacle" on Tuesday by aligning themselves with the White House against the SCHIP bill, columnist Broder writes in a Post opinion piece, adding, "Rarely do you see so many politicians putting their careers in jeopardy." He calls the program "one of the most successful health care measures created in the past decade" and adds, "Saying no to immigration reform and measures to shorten the war in Iraq may be politically defensible," but the Bush administration's "arguments against SCHIP ... sound hollow at a time when billions more are being spent in Iraq with no end in sight" (Broder, Washington Post, 9/27).

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