No Veto on Children's Health urged

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

No Veto on Children's Health Urged

By KEVIN FREKING

The Associated Press

Thursday, July 12, 2007; 10:25 PM

WASHINGTON -- Two Republican senators said Thursday the Bush administration should pull back from talk about vetoing legislation that would renew a health insurance program for children.

Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah said President Bush first should give the Senate Finance Committee a chance to offer its proposal. They are the committee's top two Republicans.

...

At issue is the State Children's Health Insurance Program. About 6 million participants are children and 600,000 are adults. The program subsidizes the cost of health coverage for families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

...

Bush has not said he would veto the bill coming from the Senate. Bur Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and other officials have made clear their dislike for the spending increase under consideration and referred to the program as government-run health care.

If a huge expansion were proposed, the president's senior advisers certainly would recommend a veto, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071201715.html

[pickledpepperRN]

Bush: No Deal On Children's Health Plan

...The 10-year-old program, which is set to expire on Sept. 30, costs the federal government $5 billion a year and helps provide health coverage to 6.6 million low-income children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance on their own....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/18/AR2007071801434.html?hpid=topnews