Bush to veto 6 million children out of health coverage

The House of Representatives voted along partisan lines to pass a health care bill that would cover 6 million more children.  That would mean six million more kids getting regular physicals, immunizations and other preventative care so that down the road many of them won't require pricey emergency procedures that taxpayers usually end up paying for.

To President Bush and most Republicans, this is a horrible idea.  Since the measure passed the House, it heads to the Senate for debate.  In a statement, the White House issued a veto threat, saying the plan "clearly favors government-run health care over private health insurance."

This bill will likely not make it through the Senate.  Instead, a bipartisan group of Senators support a more scaled back proposal, which increases funding for the program by $35 billion.  It doesn't beat the $47 billion in the House bill -- but it's still not bad.  Bush says he would veto either bill.

What the President wants instead is a bill that only increases federal funding for the program by $5 billion.  But according to columnist Art Levine, Bush's plan guts states of resources:

Bush’s proposed $5 billion increase in funding to the program would still leave nearly 20 stateswithout sufficient funds to cover all those now enrolled. Bush opposesmajor expanded funding for SCHIP because he’d like to link the programwith his dead-in-the-water proposals to offer tax credits or deductionsto help people pay for high-cost, often exclusionary private insuranceon their own.

It is interesting how the Republican Party brags about being for states rights, yet their policies of unfunded mandates actually hurt states and empower the federal government.  No Child Left Behind and the Patriot Act are two perfect examples.