Diane H. Gurien [10/03/2007]

To the editor:N.H. residents recall that three Bush administration officials were hospitalized this summer: President Bush on July 21 for a routine colonoscopy (five polyps were removed; the results were benign); Vice President Cheney on July 28 for replacement of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator; and Chief Justice Roberts on July 31 for a benign idiopathic seizure. All received premium, gold-standard, champagne (unit) care. This was top-drawer, government-run medical care funded by American taxpayers. None of these patients will receive a bill for services rendered.It is ironic, therefore, to hear the president decrying government-run health care programs for poor children (SCHIP). The president has threatened to veto SCHIP, in spite of overwhelming congressional and gubernatorial approval for expansion of the program.Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, characterized SCHIP as a Washington-run, government-owned plan, where government makes the choices, where government sets the prices, where government then taxes people to pay the bill (1). If this system works for our leaders, why cant it apply to poor children? When asked what uninsured, poor children should do if they become ill, the president had a ready answer: "People have access to health care in America.After all, you just go to an emergency room" (speech, Cleveland, Ohio, July 10).Translation: Do as I say, not as I do.For more on the SCHIP controversy, see www.cbpp.org/7-17-07health.htm.(1) www.whitehouse.gov/error-404.html