Health care showdown this week for Bush, Congress

By Tony Pugh | M • Published July 30, 2007

c Clatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled Congress this week will move one step closer to a showdown with President Bush over the future of children's health insurance.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are expected to vote on bills to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. The 10-year-old program covers children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private health insurance.

Bush and many GOP leaders oppose the expansions, claiming they cast too wide a net and would be a step toward "government-run health care."

Speaking to a crowd in Cleveland, Ohio, earlier this month, Bush said the expanded programs would prompt families that can afford private health insurance to opt instead for government-funded coverage.

"I strongly object to the government providing incentives for people to leave private medicine. ... "I think it's wrong and I think it's a mistake. And therefore, I will resist Congress' attempt to federalize medicine."

Bush has threatened to veto the bipartisan Senate proposal, which would increase the program's funding by $35 billion over five years. The House bill, crafted solely by Democrats, calls for a $50 billion increase over the same period.

The SCHIP program now costs $5 billion a year, or $25 billion over five years. An additional $2.8 billion a year, $14 billion over five years, is needed just to maintain current service levels, according to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Bush wants to expand the program by $1 billion a year, about 36 percent of what the CBO says is needed to preserve services.

The president's opposition to expanding the program is an ideological line in the sand against growing calls for universal health care. But that position could prove tricky for Republicans who don't want to be tagged as opposing health care for children on the eve of an election year.

The SCHIP program was established in 1997 to help cover children whose families earned up to twice the federal poverty level. In 2007, that's the equivalent of $41,300 for a family of four, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.