Bush Vetoes S-CHIP Expansion

So today President Bush vetoed the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) recently passed by Congress. "I believe in private medicine," he said, "not the federal government running the health care system."

Great, he believes in a health care system that has caused millions of children to lose their coverage in the six-plus years he's been in power. He believes in a health care system in which insurance companies gobble up from twenty to forty percent of all revenues, as opposed to government-run health care that boasts less than five percent in administrative costs. He believes in a health care system in which even insured individuals are routinely denied needed treatments by their for-profit insurers.

Moreover, he believes the trillion dollars it will end up costing us for his disastrous and unnecessary foray into Iraq is just fine, but spending seven billion per year the next five years to ensure the health of the nation's children is somehow "reckless spending."

So much for "compassionate conservatism." Hell, so much for conservatism. After all, study after study has shown the costs to society for having so many children uninsured -- from increased emergency room visits to missed school days to declining productivity once they reach adulthood -- far outweigh the additional costs of providing them health care. Talk about being penny wise and pound foolish.

We can only hope the House finds the needed votes to override this mean-spirited veto. If not, look for this to be another in the long litany of issues in which Bush has effectively hoisted his party on its own petard. 2008 can't come soon enough.