OPINION
September 23, 2007
Re "Bush asserts U.S. thriving on low taxes," Sept. 21 I was offended by President Bush's remarks indicating that he plans to veto bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The president accused others of partisan politics around children's healthcare, but stands almost alone in his stubborn opposition to this vital safety-net program.
NATIONAL
September 8, 2007 | Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer
In a decision that could set a precedent for California and other states but also generate sharp resistance, the Bush administration on Friday denied New York's request to expand a popular children's health insurance program to reach some uninsured middle-class families.
NATIONAL
January 15, 2007 | Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer
Shopkeeper Wei Vongsavanh was reeling after his health insurance premium hit $1,800 a month for his two young boys, both diagnosed with autism. The bill "came to the point I could not handle it anymore," said the father, an immigrant from Laos who owns a small Bay Area business that sells model airplanes. Then he discovered a joint federal-state program that helps insure the children of low-income workers.
NATIONAL
December 13, 2007 | From the Associated Press
President Bush vetoed legislation Wednesday that would have expanded government-provided health insurance for children, his second rejection of a bipartisan effort in Congress to dramatically increase funding for the popular program. It was Bush's seventh veto in seven years -- all but one coming since Democrats took control of Congress in January. Wednesday was the deadline for Bush to act or let the bill become law.
NATIONAL
August 2, 2007 | Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer
A divided House on Wednesday approved sweeping healthcare legislation that would expand government benefits for children and seniors while boosting tobacco taxes and cutting Medicare payments to private insurance companies. The largely party-line 225-204 vote came after hours of rancorous debate and parliamentary stalling tactics by Republicans. Cheers rang out in the House chamber when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) announced that the legislation had passed.
OPINION
October 8, 2007
Critics have called President Bush heartless for his veto last week of a compromise bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program. True enough, but the president didn't seem to be leading with his head either. In purporting to defend against a government takeover of the insurance industry, he blocked one of the best options for lifting families from wholly government-paid entitlements like Medicaid and into private insurance paid for in part by parents. SCHIP isn't welfare.