Bush to prevent states from expanding child health care coverage

With just more than one year left in his presidency, Mr. Bush is rewarding the health care companies that donated more than $10 million to his '04 campaign.  The Administration is setting new rules that would keep states from significantly expanding the number of children that are covered under public-funded health care, so that private insurance companies are guaranteed more customers.

How does this one-time proponent of states rights plan to control money at the local level?  It's actually quite creative.  Instead of telling state legislatures, "You can't fund that," which would be unconstitutional, the President is just changing the federal rules that make it more difficult for states to fund health care for children in families over the poverty line:

The administration’s new policy is explained in a letter that wassent about 7:30 p.m. on Friday to state health officials from Dennis G.Smith, the director of the federal Center for Medicaid and StateOperations. The policy would continue indefinitely, though Democrats inCongress could try to override it.

...Inhis letter, Mr. Smith set a high standard for states that want to raiseeligibility for the child health program above 250 percent of thepoverty level.

Before making such a change, Mr. Smith wrote,states must demonstrate that they have “enrolled at least 95 percent ofchildren in the state below 200 percent of the federal poverty level”who are eligible for either Medicaid or the child health program.

DeborahS. Bachrach, a deputy commissioner in the New York State HealthDepartment, said, “No state in the nation has a participation rate of95 percent.”

In other words, Bush is telling states that the only way to expand health care for children is if the states meet certain enrollment requirements -- even though the requirements are impossible to attain.

The only way for Democrats to do something about it is to vote to override the Bush plan by the end of September.  They must pass it by a two-thirds margin to fend off a Bush veto.  Otherwise, if Congress does nothing, the Bush rules will come into effect.