Tell The President Not To Veto Kid's Health Care

Today Congress will pass critically needed bi-partisan legislation to expand health care coverage to millions of uninsured children.

President Bush has promised to veto the compromise bill. His reasoning: the increase in children’s health care would be paid for with a tax increase on tobacco and (this is the kind of really werid part) if we start insuring more kids it will lead America down the slippery path toward national health care.

Universal health care is a bad thing?

The president’s faulty logic aside, the need for an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program is real. The Children’s Defense Fund reports:

Over the past ten years, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been effective at reducing the number of uninsured children. However, the number of uninsured children is on the rise — there are one million more uninsured children today than there were two years ago — and there are more than nine million uninsured children in America today. That means millions of children in America are not getting the care they need to lead healthy, happy, and productive lives.

This week, Congress is going to cast critical votes on a bill negotiated by the House and Senate that would expand and improve SCHIP. Although the bill will only cover 1/3 of America's uninsured children and our ultimate goal is to provide comprehensive health coverage to all children, this bill take a significant step towards this goal. However, President Bush has already threatened to veto this child health legislation.

What kind of alternative is the president advancing to deal with this moral crisis? None according to Republican United States Senator Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas (as reported by Think Progress):

I have yet to see a plan from the administration that can actually pass the
Congress. In fact, I have yet to see an actual plan from the administration. I
have yet to see bullet points from the administration. I have yet to see any
plan that can be articulated in some fashion to sell to the American public, or
to the members of this body. We don’t even have an acronym!

Earlier this year the general-secretary of the National Council of Churches said in relation to this issue:

"In our Christian tradition we follow a Jesus who said, 'Let the little children
come to me...'(Luke 18:16). The most vulnerable were priorities for Jesus.
Today, our uninsured children are among the most vulnerable."

E-mail the president and tell him not to veto this bill. America’s kids are counting on us to say their health is more important than lining the pockets of big tobacco.