Let's refocus children's health insurance program

It is time to move forward with renewing the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to serve the neediest among us.

President Bush long ago proposed a 20 percent increase for SCHIP. That's enough to cover the 500,000 SCHIP-eligible kids who haven't yet signed up, while also ensuring that no kids already enrolled lose coverage.

Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress are still trying to turn it into an entitlement program that would even cover some middle-income adults. Many of the children they want to add to SCHIP already have private insurance. Some are in families earning up to $62,000 per year, and Congress even tried to cover some children in families earning up to $83,000 per year. To pay for everything, Democrats would raise taxes on those who can least afford it.

Instead, let's refocus SCHIP to serve poor children first and give every family a $15,000 tax break for health insurance, as the President proposed last February. Independent analysts have estimated that the plans like the President's would allow nearly 20 million more Americans to buy health insurance.

That's far better than moving middle-income families from private insurance to public assistance, as the latest House bill would do.

Tevi Troy
Deputy Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C.