SCHIP

He keeps trying and trying to get the children of poor parents in this state covered by SCHIP (State Comprehensive Health Insurance Program) one way or another, but his hero, President Dubya, just won’t do anything but veto any compromise. Now let’s step back and take a wide-angled view at just five areas that are pretty important over the next four years, of which SCHIP is just one of which Dubya is using to shape the future of this country almost as heinously as Dr. Moreau changed the future of the animals on his island in the story by H. G. Wells.

You know you have become jaded when despicable political acts are no longer cause for surprise. I may not be surprised, but I feel compelled, even though a week has passed, to hold Texas Senator John Cornyn accountable for his despicable act. 

Bush and Children’s Health Care

To the Editor:

“Misleading Spin on Children’s Health” (editorial, Oct. 5) reflects
our experience with President Bush: Even too little for our children’s
health is too much for him.

President Bush gave a false description of proposed legislation to expand the 10-year-old federal program to provide health insurance for children in low-income working families.

He said it "would result" in covering children in families with incomes up to $83,000 per year, which isn't true. The Urban Institute estimated that 70 percent of children who would gain coverage are in families earning half that amount, and the bill contains no requirement for setting income eligibility caps any higher than what's in the current law.