This First Focus report analyzes the Congressional proposal to renew the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) refutes the major arguments made by opponents of the SCHIP bill and President Bush, based on empirical evidence.
The report analyzes claims by President and his allies who oppose the Congressional SCHIP proposal but support the goal of the program. Generally, these opponents want to avoid three problems: laying the groundwork for socialized medicine; crowding-out private coverage; and helping high-income rather than low –income. The report indicates that the current proposal does none of these things. Instead, the bill makes these concerns a lower risk than they are under the existing SCHIP statute. Moreover, the bill vetoed by President Bush would strengthen this bipartisan and cost-effective program with an impressive record of success, ensuring that low-income children do not go without health care because their families are unable to afford coverage. The characterizations of this legislation made by its opponents are clearly inaccurate.