"He Hates These Cans."Another movie quote applicable to the S-CHIP debate. Anytime there is a debate over health insurance, the standard line used against opponents of the bill is, "They Don't Care About The Kids." It is just as stupid and silly as when Steve Martin used it in _____(bonus points if you can name the movie).

On Tuesday, Oregon voters overwhelmingly (3-2) voted against Measure 50 which would have made their children's health plan universal. Let's look at the plan and see if we can learn anything from its failure. The plan would have:

• broaden eligibility for Oregon's "Healthy Kids" S-Chip program to 300% of the federal poverty level.
• allowed all families to opt in, regardless of income, though higher earners wouldn't get subsidies.
• paid for the expansion with cigarette taxes, which would increase to $2.02 from $1.18 a pack

Sounds familiar, right. You think that Oregon would have learned something from the S-CHIP disaster proposed by Congress this year. They didn't. The legislator who initially proposed the measure blames it on Big Tobacco. What is interesting is the comments section below the story. Most of the comments I read were concerned about the same things most Conservatives were about S-CHIP; taxing vices, higher taxes, and paying for health insurance for the middle class. Here's more Portland,Oregon coverage and in the StatesmanJournal.