Children’s Health Insurance Expansion Merits Support
The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday published an opinion piece and editorial backing the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, set to expire Sept. 30. Summaries appear below.
- Sacramento Bee: President Bush's position that "providing more children with access to health insurance will lead to a 'government takeover of health care' is neither true nor helpful in reducing the number of uninsured children in the U.S.," a Bee editorial states. "But if Bush won't support the bills to expand coverage for uninsured children, Congress should press ahead," the editorial states. "Deliver Bush his first veto override if necessary," the editorial urges (Sacramento Bee, 7/31).
- Marie Cocco, Sacramento Bee: Raising cigarette taxes to help finance an expansion of SCHIP "not only would help cover kids without insurance," it also would "make other kids -- and adults, for that matter -- healthier," Cocco, a syndicated columnist, writes in a Bee opinion piece. According to Cocco, the move also "would save taxpayers billions in future Medicaid and Medicare expenses to treat smoking-related diseases" (Cocco, Sacramento Bee, 7/31).