Why SCHIP Changes are a Bad Idea

The National Center for Policy Analysis examines a Wall Stree Journal piece "Insurance Folly" by John C. Goodman on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) currently under debate in Congress. Democrats want to expand the program to cover not only poor children but middle class children.

What's the problem?

Why is that bad? One reason is that most SCHIP programs pay doctors at Medicaid rates -- rates so low that Medicaid patients are having increasing difficulty getting access to health care:

Anecdotal evidence suggests that U.S. Medicaid patients already must wait as long for specialist care and hospital surgery as in Canada.

Many doctors won't see Medicaid patients, among those that do, many will not accept new patients.

As a result, children who lose private coverage and enroll in SCHIP are likely to get less care, not more.

Republicans never should have been involved in a socialist program like this in the first place, but now Democrats want to make it worse--both from a philosophical standpoint and from a practical one.

The article also notes some states are already using SCHIP funds to cover adults. Remember that anytime the Left starts talking about "the children," it's just an emotional smokescreen to justify more socialism.