Two Sizes Too Small.

There is a wonderful success story in the health-care industry. The federal government and the states and the industry all get together and treat children under the poverty line for free. The law is called SCHIP, the State Childrens Health Insurance Program. It is one of those few programs that is a win-win-win for everyone. The kids get subsidized health insurance. The families don't have to worry about their kids health, even the health-care industry gets paid for their services instead of seeing these kids in the emergency room and not getting paid for it.
After months of negotiating, the Congress has a bill everyone agrees with to increase funding for this program. The Democrats wanted fifty billion more for five years, the Republicans far less, and they agreed on thirty-five billion more for the program over five years. Hmmmm, I'd almost forgotten how politics is supposed to work, this strange thing called negotiating.
Still, it is a substantial increase, enough to offer the program to people slightly over the official poverty line, which we all know is a joke. The official poverty line hasn't changed much in years and barely reflects the increased cost of housing over the last five years. Offering this program to people right at the poverty line is not a luxury, it could mean the difference between living in an apartment or living in a car.
This bill has been so skilfully written that advocates for the poor, health-care providers and even an insurance industry group have come out in favor of it. And of course, George Bush has threatened to veto the bill. He is so afraid that it will work, and people might get the idea that a single payer health plan might be a good idea, that he is willing to throw four million kids under the bus. He is so afraid that his insurance industry buddies might not make their bonuses this year that he is willing to stand by while these kids get sicker and sicker and finally, when their families take them to the emergency room the hospital and the rest of us get stuck with another avoidable bill.
Mr. Bush, it is time to put up or shut up. Is your heart really two sizes too small, and like the Grinch, will you veto this bill and throw those kids off the train just in time for Christmas?