Suffer The Little Children
Providing health insurance for the previously uninsured children in this country is something this White House intends to fight, primarily because the administration fears it will lead to (gasp!) a single payor government funded health care program for all Americans. From today's NY Times:
The seemingly uncontroversial goal of insuring more children has become the focus of an ideological battle between the White House and Congress. The fight epitomizes fundamental disagreements over the future of the nation’s health care system and the role of government.
Democrats have proposed a major expansion of the program, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, to cover more youngsters with a substantial increase in federal spending. ...
Democrats said the insurance program, created 10 years ago with bipartisan support, had improved access to care for millions of children and sharply reduced the number who were uninsured. Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress — with support from doctors, consumer groups and many state officials — want to increase enrollment in the program, which served 7.4 million people at some time in the last year.
To accomplish the increase would require an increase in funding beyond what the President has proposed, but the Democrats have argued that an increased federal tax on cigarettes and a tweaking of the Medicare payment schedule would cover the cost of the higher funding. Democrats have pointed out that the President's proposed budget for the program would result in fewer children being covered. And the White House response (as delivered by its congressional lackeys)?
Several Republican senators said they would work with the White House to prevent a major expansion of the program.
John Hart, a spokesman for Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, said Mr. Coburn saw the Democratic plan as “part of an effort to bring everyone into a socialized health care system, a clarion call for Hillary Care, part two,” referring to the Clinton administration plan for universal coverage. Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, shared that view.
Who couldn't see that coming?
The White House spin machine has also been busy, cranking out "news releases" for national consumption:
In recent days, the Bush administration has taken several steps to slow momentum for expansion of the program:
¶The Department of Health and Human Services has tried to redefine the magnitude of the problem by issuing a new study that says one million uninsured children are already eligible for Medicaid or the children’s insurance program. Previous estimates by private researchers and government experts put the number at more than 5 million.
¶Regional directors of the department have sent identical letters to newspapers, warning against “a government takeover of the health care marketplace.”
¶Administration officials said Congress should include the president’s proposal to change the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health benefits as part of any legislation to renew the children’s insurance program.
Republican governors such as Arnold Schwartzenegger of California are in favor of the expansion of the program. PHARMA is in favor of the expansion of the program. Millions of working parents who either don't have employer provided health coverage or whose coverage doesn't include dependents are certainly in favor of expansion of the program. Only private insurance companies and the White House disapprove of it.
I guess having healthy children isn't a high priority for this administration, even though the cost of the expansion will be less than 10% of what the Iraq War has cost.
I guess the sanctity of human life has its limits.
The seemingly uncontroversial goal of insuring more children has become the focus of an ideological battle between the White House and Congress. The fight epitomizes fundamental disagreements over the future of the nation’s health care system and the role of government.
Democrats have proposed a major expansion of the program, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, to cover more youngsters with a substantial increase in federal spending. ...
Democrats said the insurance program, created 10 years ago with bipartisan support, had improved access to care for millions of children and sharply reduced the number who were uninsured. Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress — with support from doctors, consumer groups and many state officials — want to increase enrollment in the program, which served 7.4 million people at some time in the last year.
To accomplish the increase would require an increase in funding beyond what the President has proposed, but the Democrats have argued that an increased federal tax on cigarettes and a tweaking of the Medicare payment schedule would cover the cost of the higher funding. Democrats have pointed out that the President's proposed budget for the program would result in fewer children being covered. And the White House response (as delivered by its congressional lackeys)?
Several Republican senators said they would work with the White House to prevent a major expansion of the program.
John Hart, a spokesman for Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, said Mr. Coburn saw the Democratic plan as “part of an effort to bring everyone into a socialized health care system, a clarion call for Hillary Care, part two,” referring to the Clinton administration plan for universal coverage. Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, shared that view.
Who couldn't see that coming?
The White House spin machine has also been busy, cranking out "news releases" for national consumption:
In recent days, the Bush administration has taken several steps to slow momentum for expansion of the program:
¶The Department of Health and Human Services has tried to redefine the magnitude of the problem by issuing a new study that says one million uninsured children are already eligible for Medicaid or the children’s insurance program. Previous estimates by private researchers and government experts put the number at more than 5 million.
¶Regional directors of the department have sent identical letters to newspapers, warning against “a government takeover of the health care marketplace.”
¶Administration officials said Congress should include the president’s proposal to change the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health benefits as part of any legislation to renew the children’s insurance program.
Republican governors such as Arnold Schwartzenegger of California are in favor of the expansion of the program. PHARMA is in favor of the expansion of the program. Millions of working parents who either don't have employer provided health coverage or whose coverage doesn't include dependents are certainly in favor of expansion of the program. Only private insurance companies and the White House disapprove of it.
I guess having healthy children isn't a high priority for this administration, even though the cost of the expansion will be less than 10% of what the Iraq War has cost.
I guess the sanctity of human life has its limits.
Labels: Budget, Health Care, Insurance Companies
posted by Diane at 3:58 AM
2 Comments:
As usual, for the GOP life begins at conception . . . and ends at birth.
Why TF would this surprise anyone? W, as Governor of Texas, worked diligently to ensure that the CHiPS program would not be fully realised, lowering the eligibility ceiling from 2x to 1.5x the official Poverty Level.
His argument then was that it would cost the state too much (apparently, being eligible for CHiPS also makes one eligible for benefits such as food stamps or subsidized lunches, and it's clearly Evil to ensure that children can eat healthy food).
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