The big issue for debate in Washington D.C. this year, at least as far as health care goes, is the program known as S-CHIP. Like a lot of things that government touches in health care, S-CHIP is filled with all sorts of perverse effects.

Start with the name: State Children's Health Insurance Program. Sounds like it would be a state initiative, right? Not exactly. S-CHIP is really national health insurance on the installment plan, perhaps distributed to the states. President Bush has called for a $5 billion increase. That's bad enough, but some Democrats would like an expansion of 7 times that much, or $35 billion.

Children's is another misnomer; some states, addicted to federal money, have used it to offer coverage to adults. In some states, more adults than children.

And far from being a program for the needy--a true welfare system--it's on the verge of being simply a political takeover of health care. How so? When families subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) would qualify for a government health program, we're not talking about filling in the cracks. We're talking about an aggressive step towards medicine made in the halls of Congress.

The Heritage Foundation offers a series of recent memos on the subject, all of which will be of interest to most people interested in health care policy, regardless of level of government.

J.D. Foster and Michael Lumley take on the claim that S-CHIP expansion will be a boon to the economy.

Rea S. Hederman, Jr. and Shanea Watkins expose the AMT angle.

Connie Marshner and Nina Owcharenko see an attack on parental freedoms.