Editorials, Opinion Pieces Address Efforts To Expand, Reauthorize SCHIP

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 24 Oct 2007 - 6:00 PDT

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Summaries appear below of several recent editorials, opinion pieces and a letter to the editor that examine the recent presidential veto of legislation that would have reauthorized and expanded SCHIP and the House's failed attempt to override the veto.

Editorials

• Albany Times Union: "The all too shrill rhetoric in Congress, and worse, from the White House, has been that SCHIP covers families who don't need it," a Times Union editorial states. However, that "ignores the inconvenient and unpleasant possibility that in America, ... the median income might not be enough to afford" health coverage, the Times Union writes, adding, "Congress needs to pass another SCHIP bill in the aftermath of Mr. Bush's veto and the unsuccessful attempt to override it. It needs to recognize that the eligibility for SCHIP needs to be substantially higher than $41,300 a year" (Albany Times Union, 10/20).
  
  
• Bergen Record: Supporters of SCHIP reauthorization and expansion "are promising another bill that will either extend the program temporarily or try for a compromise that the president can accept," the Record writes in an editorial, adding, "Either way, millions of real children will be left uninsured -- because of an ideological battle and a hollow victory" (Bergen Record, 10/21).
  
  
• Charlotte Observer: "It's time to stop playing politics" with SCHIP, an Observer editorial states. "The president's advisers say they want to find common ground with Congress on this matter. Given that the vetoed bill was bipartisan, they don't have to look far," the editorial adds (Charlotte Observer, 10/19).
  
  
• Memphis Commercial Appeal: "There are obvious problems with the approach suggested by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to confront the president with another 'non-negotiable' bill adding 10 million children to the rolls," according to a Commercial Appeal editorial. The editorial adds that "a better idea" would be for congressional leaders to "immediately enter bipartisan negotiations to come up with a compromise." The Commercial Appeal writes, "A more moderate bill surely would have a better chance of success among Republicans who voted against SCHIP expansion" (Memphis Commercial Appeal, 10/20).
  
  
• New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Congressional sponsors of a bill to expand health insurance for children of working families should not give up just because the House fell short of rounding enough votes to override President Bush's veto," a Times-Picayune editorial states. The editorial continues, "It's encouraging that negotiators in both parties are proposing some amendments in a new bill that would get them enough votes to overturn another veto." Bush "appropriately championed the Medicare prescription drug benefit approved in 2003, a more expensive program than SCHIP. Children need help as well, and the president should drop [his] objections. Until he does, supporters of SCHIP ought not to give up," the Times-Picayune writes (New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/20).
  
  
• Raleigh News & Observer: "All politics are local, and here's the effect in North Carolina of President Bush's ill-conceived veto of the bipartisan [SCHIP] bill: Up to 25% of 113,000 youngsters in the state now insured under the program will lose some of their benefits, unless a compromise is reached," the News & Observer writes in an editorial. The editorial continues, "Of course, looking at the effects locally is not to minimize what Bush's veto will mean nationally. The potential pain will hit hardest those states with higher health care and health insurance costs than North Carolina's" (Raleigh News & Observer, 10/20).
  
  
• San Francisco Chronicle: The SCHIP "'debate' [over] the past week offered a microcosm of everything that is wrong with Washington, including disinformation, personal vitriol and partisan posturing," the Chronicle writes in an editorial. The editorial states, "Sometimes it seems like the ultimate goal in Washington is not to accomplish anything, but to successfully blame the other party for a failure." Issues such as health care, global warming and the immigration system "are getting more rhetoric than resolution from each end of Pennsylvania Avenue," the Chronicle adds (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/22).
  
  
• Syracuse Post-Standard: According to a Post-Standard editorial, Republican Members of Congress who voted to override Bush's veto "deserve special credit for going against their party in the valiant override effort." The editorial continues, the president is "badly out of step on this issue," and it is up to lawmakers "to continue the fight -- and ensure that the new compromise covers as many children as possible" (Syracuse Post-Standard, 10/19).
  

Opinion Pieces

• Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Having squandered the budget surplus in foolish domestic spending and an unnecessary war, Republicans can hardly claim fiscal prudence now," Journal-Constitution editorial page editor Tucker writes. She adds, "Besides, health care for children is one of those programs that is actually worth running up the national debt. It will bring the country huge returns later on, when we baby boomers have retired and need a healthy work force to pay into our Social Security fund" (Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10/21).
  
  
• Gregory Kane, Baltimore Sun: "Democrats -- who voted overwhelmingly for the expansion, along with some Republicans -- tried to paint themselves as the 'party of the children' and Republicans as old meanies who have a bee in their bonnet when it comes to poor kids," columnist Kane writes in the Sun. However, the "debate on how the program should be expanded is a wee bit more nuanced and complicated than Democrats telling Republicans 'we like poor kids, and you don't,'" Kane adds (Kane, Baltimore Sun, 10/20).
  
  
• Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: "In the larger health care debate that's shaping up in this presidential campaign season, what's really intriguing about Bush's argument [against expanding SCHIP] is his fear that providing SCHIP for working families might crowd out private insurers," according to Tribune columnist Page. He continues, "That's an ironic position for conservatives who tout the virtue of choice. The Bush administration appears to favor the right of consumers to have a choice of insurance providers, unless their choice happens to be the government-run choice" (Page, Chicago Tribune, 10/21).
  
  
• Jacob Sullum, Washington Times: Instead of "trying to resolve" issues such as SCHIP "at the national level," each state should be permitted to "go its own way, with results that vary depending on local values, the local cost of living and the local health care situation," Sullum, a nationally syndicated columnist, writes in the Times. According to Sullum, "No federal money would mean one state's legislators could no longer force another state's taxpayers to subsidize their generous impulses, but it would also mean no federal restrictions" (Sullum, Washington Times, 10/21).
  

Letter to the Editor

• John Morley (R), Philadelphia Daily News: "Contrary to" Rep. Bob Brady's (D-Pa.) "repeated implications" in an Oct. 8 letter to the editor, "President Bush does not want to end" SCHIP, Morley, a candidate for state Senate in 2008, writes in a Daily News letter to the editor. He says, "The president has endorsed a $5 billion increase in the program," adding that "Bush is simply being fiscally responsible" (Morley, Philadelphia Daily News, 10/22).
  

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