Bush to veto $35 billion children's health-care plan

Bush to veto $35 billion children's health-care plan
Eligibility in New Jersey for 'poor' program includes families of 4 making $72,000

President George W. Bush dismissed an agreement reached yesterday by congressional leaders to expand the government's children's health insurance program and said he will veto the measure.

``Members of Congress are risking health coverage for poor children purely to make a political point,'' Bush said in his weekly radio address.

House and Senate leaders, including some Republicans, yesterday defied Bush's veto threat and agreed on a $35 billion expansion of the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP. The legislation would let an additional 3.4 million children get medical coverage, according to the Senate Finance Committee. The added money would come from raising the U.S. tax on tobacco products.

The program will expire Sept. 30 unless the Democratic- controlled Congress and Republican Bush agree on legislation to renew it. Bush proposed increasing funding for the program by $5 billion over five years.

The congressional proposal would provide coverage in some cases to families making as much as $83,000 a year, Bush said.

``Democrats in Congress have decided to pass a bill they know will be vetoed,'' the president said in his radio address. ``The proposal congressional leaders are pushing would raise taxes on working Americans and would raise spending by $35 to $50 billion,'' he said.

The program, which now covers about 6 million children, was created to help families with incomes too high for Medicaid, the U.S. insurance program for the poor, and too low to afford private coverage. Over the years, some states have boosted income eligibility, reaching $72,000 for a family of four in New Jersey, the most generous state.

The Bush administration says the expansion amounts to a new entitlement for middle-income families that would entice people to give up private insurance for government-subsidized care.

``Our goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage -- not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage,'' Bush said.