SCHIP: Bush did the right thing
The hottest issue in politics right now is a matter of life and death. No it’s not war, the death penalty or legalizing euthanasia. It’s health care. Government involvement in health care isn’t a new topic. In one way or another the government has been an active participant in attempting to maintain Americans’ health since the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
Just this past week Congress passed legislation to expand the Federal government’s State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $35 billion dollars. It’s no surprise that a bill like this would pass, considering the overwhelming liberal desire for national health care. But there were a few surprises brought about by this. President Bush issued a very rare veto, despite pretty solid bi-partisan support. I didn’t even know that George Bush knew how to veto anything.
But the true irony of the story is that no matter how callous it seems Bush did the right thing. How is it possible that vetoing health insurance for young children is the right thing? To answer this, we should start by looking at the history of the program.
The goal of SCHIP is to provide insurance to children that come from very poor families that wouldn’t be able to afford health insurance. This is a very realistic goal that Republicans and Democrats have been able to agree is good for our nation. Founded, in part by Hillary Clinton, SCHIP has been around since 1997 and costs the federal government about $5 billion per year.
A few months ago the great minds in Washington D. C. got a big idea. The Democratic controlled Congress decided that they could pass a very popular measure to expand SCHIP. Actually, the legislation would more than double annual spending on the federal program to a whopping $12 billion per year. Even with the high costs, if there are children in impoverished families that are going to bed sick night after night, then it sounds like a good proposal. But the children from the impoverished families won’t get any additional benefit from this legislation.
I’m going to give you a second to re-read that sentence because I’m sure most of y’all are doing a double-take. What your representatives that voted for this don’t want you to know is that if a child is part of a family that makes poverty level or below they are already covered by SCHIP. That means that if a child belongs to a family of four making $20,650 or less per year then they are covered. If a child belongs to a family making twice the poverty level ($41,300) then they are also already covered by SCHIP. These children will receive absolutely no increased benefit from the proposed increase.
So, you’re probably wondering, who the heck is getting all the extra money? As ironic as it is, the Democrats that wrote this legislation want to give it to the rich. They want to increase SCHIP to include children that belong to families that make up to four times the federal poverty rate. That would mean that a family making $82,600 per year could put their children on SCHIP and save money on their health insurance premiums. In essence, the working poor and middle class would be paying federal taxes so that Americans making well above 60 and 70 thousand dollars can save money on health insurance. Something doesn’t seem right.
Noticing the mockery the Congress made with their SCHIP legislation, Bush decided to propose a rational solution. He proposed expanding this important program by a few billion dollars. However, instead of focusing the money and resources on well-to-do families, the funding increase would provide better health care to children of impoverished families. Ironically, by vetoing legislation to “expand” health care for children, Bush was actually trying to improve health care for our nation’s neediest children.
This is a perfect example of how most politicians, Republican or Democrat, think. They think that if they throw a whole bunch of money at a federal program then they are helping it. But money can’t buy love, happiness or a New York Yankees World Series. Presidential candidates from both parties are forming “universal” health care plans, and there is no doubt that they will try to throw money at their programs and claim that they are solving for health care. Time and heavy national deficits will prove these simple solutions wrong.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 12 2007. Filed under Opinion.
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