Tax Poor to Fund Middle Class

NCPA Report on SCHIP Expansion finds that

If SCHIP is expanded as Congress now proposes, says the paper, people making under 200 percent of the poverty line will subsidize health insurance for children and young adults in families over 200 percent, perhaps as high as 400 percent, over the poverty line. ...

The paper also notes that Congress supports reimbursing states for SCHIP expenses for middle and upper income children and young adults at a higher rate than it reimburses Medicaid expenses spent on the poor.

So why does Governor Rendell, along with other state leaders, keep pushing for SCHIP expansion? Well, note the second finding. Governor Rendell can take credit for "covering all kids" while not taking the blame for raising taxes to pay for it - the feds will do most of that. (Note Micheal Cannon's blog on "Bootleggers and Baptists" along with the latest Cato paper on SCHIP.