President Bush Vetoes Children's Health Bill

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2007 (KGO) (KGO) -- President Bush vetoed a measure to expand children's health care insurance, calling it a step toward socialized medicine. It may not be the death of this bill, though.

The bill would've extended health care coverage to millions of children.

Polls show it's a popular measure with voters. Democrats plan to take advantage of that as they continue to press for its passage.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program, commonly called SCHIP, currently insures six million children of the nations' working poor.

These are families that earn too much to qualify for Medicare, but too little to afford private insurance.

The bill passed by the Senate and House would've expanded SCHIP to an additional four million children. The President said no.

"Their proposal would result in taking a program meant to help poor children and turning it into one that covers children in households with incomes of up to $83,000 a year," said President Bush.

Factcheck.org says that is not accurate.

There are no new income eligibility caps in the bill the President vetoed.

The Democrats do not have the votes to override the veto, since enough Congressional Republicans voted against it in the House, including all 19 of California's Republicans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is promising this isn't the end.

"I know the Republicans are making it a priority to go down with the President on this issue. I think the President will find himself isolated on it. Whether we override or not, we will continue to send legislation to the President's desk," said Pelosi.

Pelosi says even among Republican voters, the legislation had widespread approval.

The Director of Health Services Policy at the conservative-leaning Pacific Research Institute says it's a move towards socialized medicine.

"They want us all to be in a government program and these are incremental steps to make that happen. Some people are in favor of that. I'm not. But I think we need to be aware that that is the agenda of a lot of Democrats, both in D.C. and Sacramento," said John Graham, Pacific Research Institute.

At Oakland's Children's Hospital, Dr. Gena Lewis says the veto means she'll continue to see children who have no coverage. She estimates she sees at least 10 children a day in that predicament.

"Their parents work, but they don't make enough money to pay for private insurance," said Lewis.

Speaker Pelosi says she needs 15 Republican votes to swing over to the Democrats.

For a full report on FactCheck.org's findings on the topic, click here.

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