SCHIP slip

OPINION:

A few telling SCHIP poll numbers emerged yesterday to shed light on the views of people outside the Beltway. Good timing, since House Republicans are set to uphold President Bush’s veto of the Democratic S-CHIP expansion bill tomorrow, and Democrats are readying another round of “But the children!” importunities. The polls show that the public responds favorably to the notion that SCHIP is intended for children in truly needy families, not for the middle class, and not for adults.

That very commonsensical viewpoint is at odds with the Democratic Party goal of converting SCHIP into a new middle- and upper-middle class entitlement. Indeed, it sits uncomfortably with the large body of polling data in which the public says it trusts Democrats more than Republicans on the subject of health care. Remember that the next time you hear “Republicans attack children!” from the SCHIP expansionists. A good many people are able to see past the rhetoric.

In the latest Gallup poll, more than half of respondents (52 percent) favor reserving most SCHIP benefits for families earning less than 200 percent of the poverty line, or $41,000. This is President Bush’s position. Only 40 percent support Democratic proposals to extend benefits to families earning $62,000.

That would be the commonsensical view: SCHIP should benefit the truly needy, not middle-class families. It should benefit poor children, not middle-class adults. Gallup didn’t poll respondents on whether families earning as much as $80,000 should partake — of which, indeed, under the Democratic proposal, at least some could. “Would you like a platinum-plated stroller with your SCHIP benefits?” it might well ask.

The new poll also shows public worry over the impact on existing private health plans. Fifty-five percent worry that some currently enrolled in private plans will opt for SCHIP, which would affect premiums for everyone else were it come to pass. Clearly, respondents can see past shrill cries of “But the children!” to ask how this bill would affect them in the real world.

The public knows an upper-middle -class income when it sees one. Families earning as much as $80,000 are simply not good candidates for SCHIP. Only in the dreams of big-government liberals could they be — or in the designs of politicians seeking to shore up the middle-class vote. So, people seem to be recognizing that the Democratic SCHIP bill is not the glorious salve for our health-care woes that backers describe, and that is good news. They do not want a back door to government-run health care. But we do not expect any ratcheting down of rhetoric about “the children.”