Pure Evil

Bush.

The Bush administration, after years of allowing states to cover more children from higher-income families through a popular state-federal health-insurance program, is putting the brakes on expansion.

The policy change will affect states that seek to or already cover children from families with income at 250% of the federal poverty level, or $51,625 for a family of four. (The federal poverty level is $20,650 for a family of four.) At least 16 states had received permission over the years to expand to or beyond that level.

The step will also put the administration on a collision course with Congress, which has approved legislation with tens of billions of dollars to expand the program to cover more children. The House and the Senate are expected to work out a compromise after the August recess.

Administration officials said President Bush will veto the final bill if tighter controls and spending limits aren't enacted. They argue that the program's expansion has gone beyond its original goal to cover low-income children at the 200% poverty level, or $41,300 for a family of four. The expansion, they say, has led some families to drop private health coverage in favor of the program, known as SCHIP, for State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Because children on public, as opposed to private, healthcare are morally decrepit. As for tighter spending? I cannot take someone seriously who spends over $200 million every day in Iraq.