From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The politics of health insurance for children.

Hello again, I'm Orinolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

Eight million American children don't have health insurance. Democrats and some Republicans want to

cover at least three million of those. The money would come from raising the tax on tobacco.

But Republican opponents are raising fears of socialized medicine and President Bush has threatened a veto.

On to the point, why has the state children's health insurance program become a political football? Would increasing it be a step

toward universal health care? Do such well-intentioned stopgaps prevent comprehensive health care

reform? On reporter's notebook later on, Iraq, Middle East Peace, and Saudi Arabia.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again,

Warren Alney, back with To the Point. Democrats and some Republicans want to expand federal support

for health insurance for children paid for by increasing the tax on tobacco. President Bush has

threatened a veto. On the, to the point, is it a step toward universal health care? Would it be

socialized medicine? What would it

mean for comprehensive health care reform? On reporter's notebooks, Saudi Arabia says it might talk to

Israel and open an embassy in Iraq. First, this news update. Former Defense Secretary Donald

Rumsfeld was back on Capitol Hill today for the first time since President Bush replaced

him with Robert Gates.

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