Republicans are delusional if they think the country doesn’t already have socialized medicine. Ask doctors to what extent government is involved in their medical practices.

Yet, that was one of the reasons President Bush gave this week when he quietly vetoed a bipartisan bill to expand children’s health coverage.

He also said the program was too expensive. He favored adding $5 billion to the program rather than the $35 billion in the legislation that passed both houses of Congress.

But if the president were really concerned about medical costs, he wouldn’t have pushed through his costly drug prescription plan that favors drug companies and managers.

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program is a joint state-federal initiative that helps insure health coverage for 6.6 million people, most of whom are from families that earn too much to be on Medicaid but can’t afford private coverage. The legislation the president killed would have added 4 million children over five years.

Congress, finally concerned about the rising national debt, planned to finance the program expansion with an additional 61-cent federal tax on cigarettes.

All seven of the Republicans who represent Alabama in Congress voted against the program.

Sen. Richard Shelby called the size of the increase in cigarette tax unconscionable. Sen. Jeff Sessions called the bill socialized, Washington-run health care.

It’s terribly considerate of Sen. Shelby to be so concerned about the pocketbooks of smokers. And Sen. Sessions should know that this is a state-administered program. Perhaps he would rather have lucrative HMOs take over the job.

No wonder the president vetoed the bill behind closed doors. He shouldn’t have killed the legislation given the number of people without health insurance. More than 43 million people lack insurance and more than 6 million of them are under 18 years old.

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