(Revised, with many thanks to mbayrob)
The U.S. Census Bureau had a press conference yesterday morning releasing new data on poverty/income and health insurance. The MSM covered it to some degree. What they missed out on completely is the fact that the number of children ages 0 through 18 without health coverage rose by more than 700,000 from 2005 to 2006. There was an increase the year before also, but this most recent number is double the previous increase. That means that one million more children are now uninsured than were uninsured 2 years ago.*
But Bush keeps saying we don't need to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program, the very successful federal and state program that covers more than 6 million children. And just in the last few days the Bush administration has imposed all sorts of nasty regulations on the current program that make it much harder for states to keep covering their children.
How does Bush justify these views? By lying, the same way he justifies all of his questionable actions. Last month, the Secretary of Health and Human Services produced a highly questionable report that states the number of uninsured children is about half of what every other researcher says it is, including every single federal agency that does research on this topic. Even the Urban Institute, which prostituted itself to produce this report (HHS pays good, I'm sure), has previously produced numerous reports on uninsured children that directly conflict with the HHS propaganda piece.
Right now there are bills passed in Congress, bills that even some Republicans voted for, to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program. Bush has said he will veto them. He says we don't need $50 billion to expand health care to millions of children for the next five years. But he is planning to demand $50 billion to further fund his disastrous war; $50 billion on top of the $147 billion that is pending in Congress for his wars. Obviously, causing death and destruction is far more valuable to the White House than than improving the health and well-being of children.
*Please note: my numbers will differ a bit from Census because their category of children is ages 0 through 17, mine is 0 through 18. I include the 18-year-olds because Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and many private insurers cover children through age 18. But other than the age break, I do my analysis the exact same way that the Census does.