100 monkeys typing.

More Compassion from Conservatives

(via)
On Friday evening, with Congress out of town on its summer recess and Americans heading into a mid-August weekend, the Bush administration sent a message to the states: The federal government will make it tougher for a national children's insurance program to cover the offspring of middle-income families.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program was created in 1997 to help children whose families couldn't afford insurance but didn't qualify for Medicaid, and administration officials tell the New York Times that the changes are aimed at returning the program to its low-income focus and assuring it didn't become a replacement for private insurance. Administration point man Dennis Smith wrote to state officials saying there would be new restrictions on the District of Columbia and the 18 states -- including California and New York -- that extend or plan to extend coverage for children whose families make more than 250% of Federal poverty levels. For a family of three that 250% is $42,900, and for a family of four it's $51,625. Under the new limits, a child from a family making more would have to spend one year uninsured before qualifying, and any state that wants to extend coverage would have to assure Washington that at least 95% of children eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid are enrolled in one of the programs. But as the Associated Press reports, no state can currently make such assurances.

The unborn, the odd blastocyst and frozen embryos have more rights and protection under this administration than the families of tax paying citizens.