Michael Moore's Sicko is a funhouse version of the current healthcare debate. But for all its distortions and exaggerations, it captures the anger and frustration of a country saddled with a system that denies too many of its citizens affordable, high-quality medical care. As people who put the value of human life at the very top of our religious priorities, the Jewish community should be leading the fight to expand coverage and make it more affordable.

One place to start is the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Backed by bipartisan support, the current Senate bill calls for a $35 billion investment in SCHIP, a program that helps the states insure children whose parents cannot afford private insurance but who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. The bill would maintain the health care of 6.6 million children and cover an additional 3.2 million children. Increased SCHIP funding would also raise awareness about the program in low-income communities and finance mental and dental services.

President Bush is threatening to veto SCHIP, however, suggesting its expansion comes dangerously close to shifting the burden of health care from private insurance to the government. (Halevai, as we say in Hebrew.) The president's counter-proposal effectively cuts the program's funding, in part out of White House concerns that some states are using SCHIP funds to cover parents of eligible children.

Jewish groups are stunned by the White House opposition to the bill. A coalition led by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs includes the National Council of Jewish Women, B'nai B'rith International, the Reform movement, and United Jewish Communities (joining heavy-hitters like the American Medical Association, the March of Dimes, and the American Academy of Pediatrics).

As Hadar Susskind, the Washington director for the JCPA, says, "It's one of those core moral issues the Jewish community understands very viscerally. When politicians stand up and say they care about children, the working poor, this is where we see it."

If Michael Moore's comedic propaganda is not your cup of tea, then it is quite literally time to get serious. Fully funding SCHIP is as serious as it gets.