The Baltimore Sun today has an editorial discussing what it claims to be the “merits of SCHIP“. After reading the article I was at a lost for words, never before have I seen so many lies and misconceptions packed into such a small article. For starters the title in and of itself is blatantly misleading. It is impossible to discuss the ‘merits’ of something while at the same time attempting to sway public opinion. When discussing the merits of an issue only facts are suppossed to be used without being obscured by personal feelings or beliefs. The author made no such effort, instead relying on talking points most likely found on the most leftward leaning blogs available.

It starts out somewhat factually based indicating that Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett was the only Marylander to vote against overriding the Presidents veto. The article then makes a thinly veiled attempt to sway public opinion the only way liberals seem to know how, by obscuring the truth.

Meanwhile, a Baltimore family that volunteered to help make the case for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program by sharing their personal story got slimed by conservative bloggers who questioned, quite rudely, whether they qualified for taxpayer help. They did.

Despite what the likes of Nancy Pelosi will tell you, I am unaware of any conservative bloggers “sliming” the Frost family. What we merely did was point out that a middle class family which owned a 3,000 square foot home, and a 12,000 square foot commercial property qualified under the old SCHIP requirements, therefore it was not necessary to expand it to even higher income brackets. Sure there were some of us who questioned wether Mr. Frost was using his business to keep his personal income low in order to qualify for government programs like SCHIP, but I believe those are reasonable questions. Maybe if the government started asking similar questions entitelement spending would not be so out of control. Now that we have gotten the misconceptions out of the way, lets move on to the blatant lies.

What has been lost in the theatrics is the reality of what’s at stake. In Mr. Bartlett’s Western Maryland district, for example, between 565 and 665 children receiving health care through SCHIP - for which their families are paying premiums - would be dropped from the program if the veto fight ends in a stalemate. If President Bush prevails, tens of thousands more Maryland children would lose benefits.

If the veto fight ends in a stalemate what will happen is a new bill will be drafted and a compromise reached. The SCHIP program is in no danger of dying unless Democrats refuse to draft a new bill if they fail to override the President’s veto. The author (who decided to remain anonymous) wants to leave the reader with the impression that the entire program will be scrapped if Democrats cannot overturn the Presidents veto although he/she knows that completely untrue.

President Bush has urged Democrats to compromise with him on this legislation, implying he would be willing to sign a bill which expanded the program by more than the $5 billion he had asked for. Democrats in Congress have elected to wait 3 weeks, while trying to gain enough support to overturn the veto. If that fails (and let’s face it Dems haven’t been succesful at much since being put into office), it will take several more weeks of arguing and finger pointing before a new bill can be signed.

If one truly wants to look at the ‘merits’ of SCHIP at this time, it is important to only look at the ‘merits’ of expanding the program, not the program itself. Republicans instituted SCHIP 10 years ago because they knew it was important for children to have healthcare, yet somehow Democrats are claiming Republicans are voting against the children. Republicans are voting against an expanded entitlement which would cover an increasing number of middle class families, many of whom already maintain private insurance.

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Health Care, Politics, President Bush