This editorial in The Daily Tar Heel supports President Bush’s veto of the S-CHIP bill, but only because the editorial board thinks North Carolina would take an unfair hit due to the substantial hike of the cigarette tax that would pay for the expanded entitlement. The paper’s solution? Stick it to alcohol producers and buyers instead. For a reasoned look at S-CHIP, read this George Will column which was published in the October 8 issue of Newsweek. Among the key pieces of information from Mr. Will (emphasis is mine):
Were it to become law, the new SCHIP would be a long stride toward unlimited federal funds working as incentives for states to expand eligibility to more and more affluent families.
It would immediately include some with incomes 400 percent of the poverty line ($83,000 for a family of four). Over time, its “mission creep” would continue. Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, says that the new SCHIP would enroll 2.8 million more children, but 1.1 million of them would be from families for whom SCHIP had become an incentive to drop their private insurance. To that, some liberals say, sotto voce: Good.
The debate we should be having is about how best to provide health insurance for poor children. The new S-CHIP proposal is flawed because its goal is, in part, to encourage upper middle class parents to drop private coverage and instead send the bill to taxpayers. That is poor public policy.
