We all know that Obamacare plans to pay for itself–sort of–by cutting Medicare reimbursements for seniors by half a trillion dollars. But it turns out that Granny won’t be the only one paying for the Democrats’ grandiose plan for the government to take over the nation’s healthcare system. The grand-kids will be paying, too, according to the Philadelphia Daily News:

The version of reform that passed the House of Representatives a few weeks ago could leave millions of kids with reduced coverage and increased costs, according to many child advocates. In the House bill, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would end in 2013 and be absorbed either into Medicaid or into the health insurance “Exchange” created by the legislation.

SCHIP offers free or reduced premiums for health insurance for kids from low-income families – and includes the kind of preventive screenings that can make a critical difference for the rest of their lives. The new insurance Exchange, scheduled to debut in 2013, would allow families that don’t get insurance through an employer to choose from an array of private plans (and maybe a public option).

The idea behind immediately melding the two programs – one that is championed by many people who have supported SCHIP in the past – is that enrolling whole families in the exchange would increase insurance coverage overall. Besides, since individual states manage the SCHIP program, it could be subject to cuts if the economy tanks (even more).

But an analysis sponsored by First Focus, a bipartisan child-advocacy program, found that families would pay significantly more to the Exchange for their kids’ health care than under SCHIP. Depending on their incomes, families now pay between 0 and 2 percent of treatment in SCHIP. In the Exchange, those same families would pay between 5 to 35 percent of their children’s health costs. Not to mention that SCHIP would end just as the Exchange would be starting up. That could provide some pretty large cracks for families to fall through.

Mind you, the Daily News is pro-Obamacare, and is supporting a “save SCHIP” amendment offered by Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Robert Casey. Still, isn’t it interesting that the oh-so-compassionate Dems don’t really have much compassion for either vulnerable old folks or vulnerable children?