So many things get lost in these complicated pieces of legislation and the changes that are made to them. Before the final battle over SCHIP, the Republicans successfully fought to keep $10 billion in subsidies for insurance companies who found they are not efficient enough to compete with Medicare.

Yes, let's complain that SCHIP costs too much, and gives money away to people who don't need it, but funnel big bucks to insurance companies.

Cynthia Tucker poses a question:

Just four years ago, President Bush and the Republican Congress joined with Democrats to champion a program giving prescription drug coverage to senior citizens. It was poorly conceived and mega-expensive, an added entitlement for a group of Americans who already had good medical care. But Bush and Congress insisted that seniors deserved it.
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Now, however, the president and many of his GOP colleagues adamantly oppose extending just a fraction of that good medical care to children. What sort of country lavishes health care on its old but withholds it from its young? Why do so many conservatives believe old folks are "deserving" but children are deadbeats?

And the answer is, kids don't vote, senior do, and they vote Republican. It's the same rationale that Bush tried to use in the Social Security debate, assuring seniors that their benefits wouldn't be cut.

But as usual, their thinking on this is pretty limited. They don't think that parents and grandparents of kids might object to these slights, just like they didn't think that taking out Saddam Hussein might create problems in Iraq.

The Bush team is only thinking one step ahead, on how to win that day's political battle. And it keeps burning his butt.

Three cheers for Wal-Mart for offering cheap generic drugs:

Wal-Mart announced today that it will start a test program in Florida, where it will sell generic prescription drugs for $4 for a 30-day supply. The test will start tomorrow in 65 Tampa Bay-area stores and is to expand to the whole state by January.

In a statement, CEO Lee Scott says the world's largest retailer intends to "take the program to as many states as possible next year."

Why is this important? Wal-Mart is doing what the Bush Adminstration refused to do under the new Medicare drug plan. They are using their buying power to drive down the prices, the same way Canada does. At $4 a month, these drugs are probably a better buy than you can get through your new Medicare insurance. So much for that trillion dollar waste of money.

And another good point, Wal-Mart is offering these prices to anyone, insurance or not.

Right now, this just applies to generic drugs. But what if Wal-Mart were able to do the same thing with other drugs? If they can, then we could probably scrap the whole Medicare prescription system and just send people to Wal-Mart, and save about a trillion dollars. over the next 10 years.

Wal-Mart gets a lot of bad press for driving out small businesses and it anti-union activities. But I have to hand it to them for this. Can't wait until they roll out the service here.