Bush's new health rules are wrong for children

Late on a Friday afternoon in the middle of the August congressional recess, after the House and Senate passed legislation reauthorizing and extending the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Bush Administration issued harsh and restrictive rules for SCHIP that would make it virtually impossible for states to extend health coverage to many of America's more than nine million uninsured children. The Children's Defense Fund strongly opposes the administration's callous and unwise move.

The new rules issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would prohibit states from expanding SCHIP health coverage to children whose families have incomes above 250 percent of …