S-CHIP Veto a Boon to Universal Care Advocates?

In a move that that the White House played down but has made the rounds in the press, President Bush vetoed the expanded S-CHIP children’s health insurance program proposed by Congress yesterday.  I’m obviously no fan of the program here, and Bush was probably right to oppose it.  But I also think there’s something to what Slate’s Timothy Noah says here, that Bush may, in the end, have simply provided fuel for the universal coverage fire.  Noah is thrilled about this, of course, even though he admits that funding that program through a cigarette tax is a legitimate problem.  Either way, he’s probably right that this will only turn public support more toward universal coverage.

Of course, I think at least a small part of that effect might have been averted had Republican legislators like Orrin Hatch not gotten in a huff over this and started to bash Bush.  And Bush’s proposal — which was actually to expand S-CHIP, just by less than Congress wanted — wasn’t so hot either.  Taking a stand in favor of something as weak as "smaller increases," especially when it’s likely to give ammunition to your opponents, doesn’t seem like the most politically powerful move.