Health-Care Plans Unhealthy Health Care If Americans shopped for health insurance like they do for auto insurance, Blue Cross might need to use a cute green Gecko for marketing. “Unhealthy Health Care” By Linda Halderman 10/19 4:00 AM

HillaryCare Medicare for All? Senator Hillary Clinton has it exactly backwards. Government-run Medicare is not the solution to what ails health care. It’s a big part of the problem. “Medicare for All?” By James C. Capretta 10/19 4:00 AM

2008 Freedom Works We face a choice on health care:  We can reform the system through the mechanism that has made the American economy the envy of the world — free markets and competition — or we can promote more government intervention in the false hope that bigger government will be the elixir to our health-care ills. “Freedom Works” By John McCain 10/19 12:00 AM

S-CHIP Beating Back S-CHIP We’re glad the House voted to sustain Bush’s veto of the bill to expand S-CHIP, the children’s health-insurance program. We think Bush is right on policy grounds, and that Republicans are in a better political position than a lot of people think. “Beating Back S-CHIP” By The Editors 10/18 3:15 PM

Brave New World More Missouri Manipulation Missouri media have a problem reporting the facts when it comes to human cloning and stem-cell research.The Kansas City Star and reporter Kit Wagar have become notorious for their bias in this area, and now the editors at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch show that they are not interested in a fair fight. “More Missouri Manipulation” By Cathy Ruse 10/18 6:30 AM

2008 Universally Bad When it comes to health care, all eyes are on the Presidential candidates. A gaze back to the myriad experiments in our laboratories of democracy is instructive. States have long been tinkering with health reform; giving most of the ideas espoused by today’s Presidential candidates a road test. The news is not happy — at least for those who want to provide us with universal insurance. Most reforms either sink on the rocky politics of increasing taxes and spending, or falter when it’s time to implement, which means actually getting real people to write real checks for insurance. “Universally Bad” By Sally C. Pipes 10/18 5:00 AM

Insurance Uncovering the Over-Insured The conventional wisdom is that the number-one goal of health policy should be “universal” coverage: everybody should have health insurance. Few dare to challenge this trope, for two reasons. “Uncovering the Over-Insured” By John Graham 10/18 4:00 AM

Aging America Aging with the Boomers In an aging society, health care is bound to be an increasingly dominant political concern. And everybody knows American society is aging. The portion of our population over the age of 65 has nearly doubled in the last half century, and will just about double again in the next half century. The oldest of the old, Americans over the age of 85, are now the fastest growing portion of the population. Older people have more health problems, so a society with more older members will naturally be more concerned about medicine and health care. “Aging with the Boomers” By Yuval Levin 10/18 4:00 AM

S-CHIP Who’s For S-CHIP? Everyone, Unfortunately. Politicians and pundits are busy folks: They’ve got fundraisers, media appearances, speeches, cocktail parties, more fundraisers — it’s a lifestyle that doesn’t leave much room for actual policy research. Hence, the invention of talking points, collections of easy to remember points of argument passed around to Congressmen and their staff, as well as friendly third parties. I never saw the Democrats’ talking points on their planned expansion of S-CHIP, the program designed to fund health insurance for children in low-income families, but I imagine the list looked something like this:The children!The children!The children!Bush is bad! (For the children!)Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi in the House, have spent the past few months pushing for a $35 billion expansion of the program. And President Bush has spent just as long threatening to veto it, which he finally did at the beginning of October, earning him, and any Republicans that supported him, a flurry of outraged remarks from supporters of the program’s expansion. Today, Pelosi will lead a vote to overturn that veto — a vote she knows she’ll lose. That hardly matters, though, as it’s just one more opportunity to slam the president for having it in for the children. “Who’s For S-CHIP? Everyone, Unfortunately.” By Peter Suderman 10/18 4:00 AM

Costs Free Lunch Eternal The quest for the free lunch is eternal, and nowhere is that reality clearer than in the ongoing debate over reform of the U.S. health-care system. Many advocates of a single-payer (government) system of health insurance argue that “administrative” costs for private health insurance are much higher than those for such single-payer systems, such as Medicare. The adoption of a single-payer system for all Americans, they claim, would yield savings sufficient to cover all the uninsured. “Free Lunch Eternal” By Benjamin Zycher 10/18 4:00 AM

S-CHIP Compromise, Congress Congress is hell-bent on passing a massive expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). The program was originally designed to help children in low-income working families, but lawmakers would push eligibility for this form of public assistance higher into the upper reaches of the middle-income scale. President Bush, meanwhile, has pledged to hold the line against a massive spending increase that will displace the existing private health coverage for millions of families, add to current and future tax burdens, and transform — over time — a limited welfare program into the equivalent of another middle-class entitlement. “Compromise, Congress” By Robert Moffit 10/17 1:45 PM

S-CHIP Out-of-Control S-CHIP On Thursday, Congress is expected to vote on whether to vastly expand S-CHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Legislation already passed Congress in September, but fell short of a veto-proof majority. As expected, President Bush vetoed the bill earlier this month. Now Congress will try to muster enough votes to override the veto. “Out-of-Control S-CHIP” By Diana Ernst 10/17 5:00 AM

Reform Free-Market Alternative The debate will be different this time around. When Hillary Clinton first attempted an overhaul of our health sector, she was no learned hand at politics. But the health plan that her presidential campaign released last month is much more politically attuned and lacks the hubris of those 1,342 pages of legislation the White House dropped on Congress 14 years ago. Today’s talking points (at variance with the actual details of her plan) stress choice, affordable private insurance, and no new government bureaucracy. “Free-Market Alternative” By Grace-Marie Turner 10/17 4:00 AM

S-CHIP False Prophets Arise Catholics United is running deceitful ads against pro-life members of Congress who opposed the vetoed S-CHIP bill, but otherwise supported health care for underprivileged kids. Why? Because Catholics United, which demurs from airing similar ads against pro-abortion members of Congress, is not a Catholic Church sanctioned organization; it is a Leftist political front group. No one should be fooled when this devil cites Scripture for his own purpose. “False Prophets Arise” By Thaddeus G. McCotter 10/17 4:00 AM

Conscience Freedom to Choose If rising costs, declining quality, administrative hassles, and coverage gaps aren't reasons enough to reform American health care, here's one more: conscience concerns. “Freedom to Choose” By Jennifer A. Marshall 10/17 4:00 AM

S-CHIP Sinking S-CHIP On Thursday, the House of Representatives will vote on a measure to override President Bush’s veto of a massive government-subsidized health-insurance entitlement expansion plan. I agree with the Democrats on one thing: This is indeed a “defining moment.” “ Sinking S-CHIP” By Michelle Malkin 10/17 12:00 AM

THE CORNER Anticipation The Fraser Institute just published its latest survey of average waiting times for non-emergency surgery and other major procedures in the Medical Paradise of the North. The new figure is 18.3 weeks from the time a patient is referred to a specialist until the completion of the procedure. That's the long wait since Fraser began studying the issue 17 years ago. Naturally, defenders of socialized health insurance quibble with . . . “Anticipation” By John Hood 10/16 8:59 AM

THE CORNER S-CHIP May Not Be a Losing Issue for Republicans From USA Today: WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans trust Democrats to handle the issue of children's health insurance more than President Bush, but they agree with the president that government aid should be targeted to low-income families, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows.Two days before the Democratic-controlled House attempts to override Bush's veto of a five-year, $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the poll shows . . . “S-CHIP May Not Be a Losing Issue for Republicans” By Kathryn Jean Lopez 10/16 8:51 AM

S-CHIP Protecting S-CHIP The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP, has become the target of political games in Washington. S-CHIP was rightly intended to provide health insurance to kids whose families barely miss qualifying for Medicaid, something everyone agrees is a good idea. However, Washington liberals are attempting to overextend the program, hurting children already on the program and worse yet, hurting children who qualify for S-CHIP but who are not currently enrolled. S-CHIP is for children who need it, not adults and not the middle class. “Protecting S-CHIP” By Charles W. Boustany Jr. 10/16 7:30 AM

The Right Friends Want Friends to Do Health Care I have a joke I tell my fellow health-policy wonks. It goes like this: What do conservatives and Christian Scientists have in common? Wait for it… They don’t do health care. Zinggg! “Friends Want Friends to Do Health Care” By Michael F. Cannon 10/16 7:00 AM

S-CHIP Meet the New Frosts, Same as the Old Frosts Last week I compared parents who allow their kids to be props in political debates to stage mothers. Instead of, “Judy, take one more Benzedrine and this time smile during the encore of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’” it’s “Madison, tell the nice man what Uncle Gore said would happen to the polar-bear cubs if people don’t drive better cars.” Maybe the political form of stage mothering isn’t as harmful to the kids, but it’s just as exploitative. “Meet the New Frosts, Same as the Old Frosts” By Mark Hemingway 10/16 6:00 AM

S-CHIP Left Loves S-CHIP Big government pays for many things. One side-effect is the enrichment of groups who get the money, enabling them to afford more lobbying on behalf of even bigger government. Now they’ve joined the most brazen voices of the liberal Left in the S-CHIP debate. “Left Loves S-CHIP” By Ernest Istook 10/15 8:00 AM

NATIONAL HEALTH CARE One Cheer for Doctor Hillary Over the course of this year, Senator Hillary Clinton has outlined the major components of her health-reform plan. She laid out how she would reduce rising health-care costs; how she would improve the quality of care; and lastly how she would achieve universal insurance coverage. “One Cheer for Doctor Hillary” By Newt Gingrich 10/15 5:00 AM

THE STATES Pols Play, You Pay Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California state legislature’s Democratic leadership are knee-deep in their “special session” on health-care reform. If the rhetoric coming from Sacramento’s bigwigs is any indication, they aren’t just scrambling to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic — they’re blowing holes in the ship’s hull in the absurd hope of getting the water to leak out faster. “Pols Play, You Pay” By Jill Jenkins 10/15 4:00 AM