Considering that Sen. Ted Kennedy and then first lady, Mrs. Clinton initiated SCHIP, conservatives should have been more keen to another attempt by government to redistribute wealth. Even the Heritage Foundation says SCHIP is a step towards socialism.
Nobody wants to hurt children. So why vote against such a measure? It's simple, America cannot afford it right now and is not the best way to alleviate poverty.
Publicly funded healthcare should be limited to those mentally or physically unable to work or care for themselves. Poverty elimination is not and should not be an essential ongoing business of government. Government should encourage churches to take the lead in caring for their neighbor.
Another bad outcome from this program is states have become dependent on it. Now states are suing because the government will not pay for the care states think they deserve. We have come to the point in America where many, perhaps most Americans think they have a right to healthcare. Nowhere however does government paid healthcare, education or wealth redistribution appear as a inalienable right in the U.S. Constitution.
If Americans believe government can pay for a publically funded universal health care program in our nation and still regain our national solvency, we are in for a future our forefathers hoped would never occur.
Mark Albertini