Yesterday, the House failed to override President Bush's veto of their legislation to expand SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The program has more than six million enrollees, including 600,000 adults, a detail seldom mentioned in the news. Meanwhile, S-CHIP has failed to enroll almost two million qualified children.
Congress’s proposal would have expanded S-CHIP to families up to 300-percent of the federal poverty level, with funds that included a federal tobacco tax.

The president wants to require the program to deliver on its promise — providing insurance to poor children, and specifically children in families with incomes below 200-percent of the federal poverty level. Interestingly enough, the Congressional Budget Office recently reported that the President's reauthorization proposal would actually cover many more American children in the next 10 years than Congress' vetoed legislation.

In reaching a new compromise on SCHIP, Congress should craft a solution for Americans using tax incentives and credits, so they can continue to own their own health care, rather than rely on a government bureaucracy.  
See my article on SCHIP, recently published in the National Review Online:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTQyODA0NGNhZjVlNTQ1ZmRjNjBiNmZlOWVlYzFlOGY=