Well, President Obama has signed his first bill into law, and it’s an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP. In the name of providing health insurance to poor children, the federal government will now be the insurance provider of choice for families making up to four times the poverty level, and covering “children” up to their mid-twenties. This raises the entertaining possibility that some people could end up both being customers and beneficiaries of the program — “children” whose own children would also be covered by the same taxpayer-subsidized plan.

Here’s what President Obama said at the occasion of the bill’s signing: “The way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children through CHIP is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American.”

Ah, universal health insurance coverage — the liberal holy grail.

The idea is that everyone will have health insurance, provided by the government and paid for in taxes. And in selling it, the more you separate the actual costs of something from the item or program itself, the more palatable it becomes for those who will pay for it.

It’s the core concept behind the success of the income tax: most people pay it indirectly, all year, through paycheck withholding. Then, every April, many of them rejoice in getting money back from the government. It’s actually a repayment of an interest-free loan they made to the government over the past year. It’s their own money. But still, many people see their income tax returns as a “bonus” from the government.

It’s also behind the student loan and college tuition racket. For years, the cost of a college education has been soaring, well in excess of inflation. But since most college students don’t pay as they go, but instead just sign loans and grant applications, they don’t see how much money they are spending for that education. No, the real cost becomes clear after graduation, when former students are suddenly in heavy debt. But by then they have already consumed the product.

Advocates are pushing for “free” universal coverage, but nothing is ever free. The S-CHIP program is being funded by a 150% hike in the federal tax on cigarettes, but that is a very unreliable revenue stream — after all, another part of the government is dedicated to getting people to stop smoking entirely, while S-CHIP is dependent on more and more people taking up the habit. Sooner or later, the costs of the program will outstrip the cigarette tax revenue, and then we’ll be asked to swallow some new tax to cover it.

And this is, as promised, just the first step.

P. J. O’Rourke said it best: “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

I can’t wait for the first insurance company to seek a federal bailout because the government has stolen most of their customers.