Suuuuuprise, Suuuuuuprise! Bush to veto new SCHIP bill

McConnell SCHIP stance criticized

OPPOSES EXPANDING TAXPAYER-SUBSIDIZED CARE, WHICH HE HAS

By John Cheves
JCHEVES@HERALD-LEADER.COM
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But as a U.S. senator, McConnell gets government-run, taxpayer-subsidized insurance through the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program, including free outpatient treatment by doctors at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. When McConnell needed triple bypass heart surgery in 2003, he checked into the Naval Medical Center and was treated by the hospital's clinical chief of cardiothoracic surgery.

"Sen. McConnell's objection to this legislation gives disingenuousness a bad name," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group that is lobbying for SCHIP expansion.

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McConnell voted for SCHIP when it was created in 1997, Stewart wrote. Although he opposes the expansion of SCHIP passed by Congress and vetoed by Bush, he wants poor children to have health care, and he supports other legislation that would make insurance coverage more accessible, Stewart wrote.

Although members of Congress enjoy some exclusive health care perks, the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program is open to all federal workers. Run by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it uses the government's muscle as a huge employer to obtain lower group coverage rates from a choice of private insurers -- much as many states' SCHIP programs operate, Pollack said.

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