highly subsidized health care for half the population

From the editorialists at the WSJ...

I don't know the exact numbers-- and the writers conflate households with families-- but the proposal at least approaches the median...

The House made its first down payment on President Obama's health-care plans last week, passing 289-139 a major expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The Senate is scheduled to take it up soon and pass it easily as well....

Schip will more than double in size with $73.3 billion in new spending over the next decade -- not counting a budget gimmick that hides the true cost. The program is supposed to help children from working-poor families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but since it was created in 1997 Democrats have used it as a ratchet to grow the federal taxpayer share of health-care coverage.

With the new bill, Schip will be open to everyone up to 300% of the federal poverty level, or $63,081 for a family of four. In other words, a program supposedly targeted at low-income families has an eligibility ceiling higher than the U.S. median household income, which according to the Census Bureau is $50,233. Even the 300% figure isn't really a ceiling, given that states can get a government waiver to go even higher....

The political purpose behind Schip has always been to capture the middle class. Every time the program grows, it displaces private insurance....

Lately Mr. Obama has been making noises about the necessity of entitlement reform. This is no way to start.