A crowd of doctors and faculty gathered at Stanford Medical Center yesterday to rally in support of a Congressional bill that would reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Last week, the bill passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives, but the 265 votes collected in the House fell short of the two-thirds majority required to override President George W. Bush’s expected veto.

“We are frustrated,” said Arti Desai, a pediatric resident at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, part of the Medical Center. “I think it’s ridiculous that Bush is trying to create some kind of political game with this issue.”

Implemented in 1997, SCHIP is a federal program that provides health insurance for uninsured children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. The 10-year program will expire if Bush overrides the Congressional reauthorization.

The President has said that the new bill, which would expand the program’s $5 billion annual budget to $12 billion, is too expensive. Furthermore, Bush has said he believes the reauthorization would be an unnecessary step in the direction of federalized health care.

Medical professionals at Stanford are not the only ones speaking out in defense of the bill. Thirty-five hospitals and medical schools across the country are holding their own similar events, and participating institutions nationwide are signing up daily.

“The small spark here has spread to this national, raging fire,” said Lisa Chamberlain, a professor of pediatrics and a pediatrician at Stanford Hospital. “And as a litmus test to you in Washington, if you have pediatricians across the country angry at you, things are not going well.”

The motto of yesterday’s rally was, “Stand for SCHIP. Stand for kids,” but underlying personal convictions were evident in the speeches.

“The individuals that we’re speaking for can’t speak for themselves,” said Medical School Dean Philip Pizzo in reference to the 6.6 million children who currently rely on SCHIP coverage for their basic medical needs.

“It really is imperative for each of us to take a stand on their behalf,” Pizzo added.

“Children covered on these programs are not numbers to us,” Chamberlain said. “They are faces and stories and lives.”

Pizzo ended his speech with a message to the audience.

“Unite your voices, speak for children and make your message clear to those who are in elected office that we stand for children,” he said, “and that if they don’t, at some point we will make our voices well-established in terms of their futures as well.”