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Oct 6, 2007

Asbury Park Press - Don't scrimp on SCHIP

Is it true, as congressional Democrats are suggesting in radio spots, that Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., doesn't care a whit about kids? We doubt it. But his vote against a bill that would extend health insurance subsidies to more uninsured children makes you wonder.

The bill was approved by wide majorities in the Senate and House, but President Bush vetoed it Wednesday, arguing it was too costly — it increases the tab for the program over five years from $35 billion to $60 billion — and would undermine private health insurance by extending benefits to some middle-class families at the expense of the poor.

The bill would cover nearly 4 million uninsured children in addition to the 6.6 million already enrolled. The families of many of those children have been priced out of the private health insurance market by inflation. It can now cost a family of four in New Jersey more than $20,000 to buy health insurance on its own. All of the 10.6 million children who would be covered by the bill are eligible under the original provisions of the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

The bill vetoed by Bush doesn't expand the program. It simply provides the funding needed to cover the increased number of children eligible for it due to rising health care costs and the dramatic decrease in recent years of employers who offer health insurance. The increased cost of the bill rejected by Bush and by Saxton is $5 billion a year. To put that into perspective, $9 billion a month is being spent on the war in Iraq. If the Bush veto stands, it would have particularly devastating consequences in New Jersey, which already ranks near the top nationally in the number of uninsured children.

Democrats have postponed a veto override vote for two weeks — enough time, they hope, to sway some 15 Republicans, including Saxton, whose votes are needed for an override. We hope Saxton, one of just three New Jersey congressmen to vote against the bill, will rethink his position and encourage other House colleagues to change their minds as well.