On Wednesday, the House passed legislation to significantly expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to families earning more than $60,000 per year.  I supported SCHIP when it was first enacted in 1997 and believe it's an important safety net for children from low-income families, but I don't believe that this expansion will target assistance to truly needy families.  Instead, this extends government-run health care to people who already have access to private health coverage.

In addition, as we're seeing right now with the Medi-Cal program here in California, having government coverage doesn't necessarily mean you can access the health care you need.  When states expand eligibility for government health programs and then run into a budget crunch, they often respond by cutting payments to hospitals and doctors, who in turn become unwilling to treat patients with government insurance.  And when this happens, it leaves people with no place else to turn for quality health care.  I believe a better approach to the problem of rising health care costs is to pursue tax changes and insurance market reforms that will make private health coverage more affordable for working families.