How to Reform SCHIP
Thursday, September 13th, 2007 By Marc KilmerApparently the House and Senate cannot come to terms with the reauthorization of SCHIP, so it looks likely that this issue will continue to be discussed for another month or two. Congressmen and Senators (as well as anyone else interested in this program) would do well to read the recently-published “Sinking SCHIP: A First Step Towards Stopping the Growth of Government Health Programs,” written by Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute. In it, Cannon recommends:
Rather than expand SCHIP, Congress should (1) make private health insurance more affordable by allowing consumers and employers to purchase less expensive policies from other states, and (2) fold federal Medicaid and SCHIP funding into block grants that no longer encourage states to open taxpayer-financed health care to nonneedy families. With more Americans able to afford private insurance and no incentive for states to expand government programs beyond the truly needy, federal and state governments could reduce spending on those programs.
