Get ready to hear this repeated over and over again by liberals in Washington and the MSM. All because President Bush vetoed the S-CHIP bill.

However, the bill as it was passed by Congress included an expansion that would’ve covered children in families making more than $81,000 per year. This isn’t what the program was originally intended to do. It was intended to be a vehicle for low-income children whose families couldn’t afford (or couldn’t get through employers) health insurance coverage.

However, the current bill would mean that 71 percent of all children in this country would be eligible for a program that was designed for low-income children. It could become a vehicle to shift millions of people who have good incomes and private insurance to a publicly assisted government insurance program. (It also appears to contain a loophole that would allow illegal aliens to participate)

Like many government-run social programs, we have another situation where a noble idea gets caught up in the vote-buying process of politics by those who think the federal government exists to cater to our every need from cradle to grave. (Government-dependency breeds more voters for those who promise more “freebies” at the expense of society’s producers)

But get ready, proponents of the current bill almost certainly already have massive campaigns ready for television, radio and the Internet - likely with pictures of President Bush slowly choking poor children to death with his bare hands.

UPDATE:
Commenter “SouthernRoots” highlights the fact that this program, originally designed for poor children, is actually covering almost 3/4 of a million adults, too (including a few states where adults outnumber the number of children enrolled):

As we argued last month, a pattern of bailouts and waivers for more generous states has encouraged them to expand S-CHIP beyond its original mission. Instead of remaining a safety net for children of the working poor, the program is turning into a taxpayer-funded health-care system for ever greater numbers of middle-class children and even adults. Almost 700,000 adults were enrolled in the program last year, and adults receiving coverage through S-CHIP outnumbered children in three states.

I always wondered how free-market-loving Americans could ever get duped into accepting a socialist-based system of government. But now I see how. Through the slow creep of government-run programs that infinitely expand in scope.

UPDATE 2:
And about that “poor kid” the Democrats are parading around who “wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for S-CHIP”…

…as Paul Harvey would say, here is “the rest of the story“:

On September 29th, 12 year old Graeme Frost of Maryland got to do the Democrats’ radio address, in which he told his story of how he and his sister were seriously injured in a car accident, and if it hadn’t been for SCHIP, they wouldn’t be here today. So who is this 12 year old? The Baltimore Sun did a story on the family, in which it stated the family couldn’t get health insurance through their work. But the article left out quite a few important, and interesting, bits of information, which Freeper, icwhatudo, managed to find while googling:

First, Mr. Halsey Frost, Graeme’s father, owns his own woodworking design studio, Frostworks, so his claim that he can’t get health insurance through work is shockingly deceptive. He chooses not to get health care for his family. Second, Graeme and his sister Gemma attend the very exclusive Park School, which has a tuition of $20,000 a year, per child. Third, they live in a 3,000+ square foot home in a neighborhood with smaller homes that are selling for at least $400,000.

I want to thank the Democrats for proving my point even better than I could!

1. “The expansion Congress is seeking now would go even further, extending coverage to families earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (just over $60,000 for a family of four) and “children” up to 25 years old.”

   “Almost 700,000 adults were enrolled in the program last year, and adults receiving coverage through S-CHIP outnumbered children in three states.”

   S-CHIP has been around for over a decade. It is supposed to cover millions of CHILDREN. Many states have introduced their own coverage for “the children”. Why do the political ads over the last decade continue to claim that millions of children have no health care coverage?

   How many children lose out on coverage because of the 700,000 adults covered, or the addition of people up to 25 years of age?

   As always, the Democrats always raise the age level of “children”. It explains so much about how they act at times.

   S-CHIP review

   Comment by SouthernRoots — 10:46 am
   

2. if it’s for war, $10 billion a month, it is ok.

   if it’s for poor and middle-class children, $35 billion OVER five years, we suddenly have to curb spending.

   And this ladies and gentleman is repuglican logic to everything.

   Comment by Fredster — 6:35 pm
   

3. It’s not about the money spent, but how and why. It IS the federal government’s job to maintain the military and fight wars. It’s NOT their job to take money from producers and redistribute to non-producers… Except when living under socialism or communism.

   Comment by Texas Rainmaker — 6:51 pm
   

4. Fredster,
   Section 8 has a whole lot of stuff on the military, wars, and spending, etc.

   Out of curiosity, where in the Constitution does it enumerate the right or responsibility of the government to provide for healthcare of the citizens?

   I don’t know if I agree or disagree with S-CHIP yet - EXCEPT that when ADULTS are covered, I presume some kids get crowded out.

   When the program is billed as “for the children” and “children” is defined as up to 25 years of age, then I find this to be a socialized medicine Trojan Horse and very deceitful and it turns me against these types of programs.

   Comment by SouthernRoots — 10:06 pm
   

5. “…if it’s for poor and middle-class children…”

   It’s the and middle-class part that I object to. I presume coverage of 25-year old “children” is intended to cover ‘kids’ in college, or who are incapacitated in some shape or fashion. I have no problem with helping those truly ‘in need,’ but I have an immense problem with paying for my peer’s kid’s health insurance and/or for those who have figured out how to ride the system for free.

   Get the federal government out of the picture - transition the program over to the states and I become much more inclined to listen.

   Comment by Old Soldier — 5:53 am
   

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