Vote on Kids’ Insurance Veto Draws Commentary

Summaries of an opinion piece, editorial and letters to the editor regarding President Bush's veto of compromise legislation to expand and reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program appear below.

David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times: The "legislation to expand [SCHIP] ... represented an incremental step toward government-run insurance for every American," rather than government-run health care, Lazarus writes in his "Consumer Confidential" column for the Times. "And with 47 million people now uninsured, I'm having a hard time seeing how this would be such a bad thing" (Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 10/14).
Sacramento Bee: "No one disputes that" SCHIP "improves access to health care," a Bee editorial states, adding that "because funding is a block grant to each state -- not a per-child allocation -- many eligible children remain uninsured." According to the Bee, "That is why members of Congress should vote to override Bush's veto" (Sacramento Bee, 10/15).
Mary Lou Goeke, Sacramento Bee: "Over the next five years, about 775,000 California children will lose health insurance under the president's insufficient funding proposal," Goeke, chair of the public policy committee for United Ways of California, writes in a Bee letter to the editor. "Congress should override [Bush's] veto. There are millions of reasons why," according to Goeke (Goeke, Sacramento Bee, 10/12).
David Carroll, Sacramento Bee: The bill vetoed by Bush "actually restricts, not expands, states' ability to cover moderate-income children," Carroll, research director of the California Budget Project, writes in a Bee letter to the editor. "Further restrictions could put health reform in California -- and the state's current (SCHIP) program -- in jeopardy," according to Carroll (Carroll, Sacramento Bee, 10/12).

Broadcast Coverage

American Public Media's "Marketplace Money" on Friday included the first of a series of discussion with Lazurus about his personal experience with employer-sponsored health insurance (Vigeland, "Marketplace Money," American Public Media, 10/12).

Audio of the segment is available online.

This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.