Congress Ready to Rumble for Kids' Health Insurance
Tomorrow, members of the U.S. House and Senate will vote to override President Bush’s veto of legislation that would extend and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The bill in question, a compromise between the House and Senate, would extend SCHIP for another five years, provide an additional $35 billion in funding, and provide health care for an additional 10 million uninsured children whose families make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford the typical private insurance plan.
In vetoing the bill, President Bush, always an ally of the private insurance industry, claimed the legislation was a move toward “federalized” health care and that he believes in private insurance. Oddly enough, under the SCHIP program, children are typically enrolled in private health insurance plans, and there is no federally established or recommended benefits package.
Additionally, Bush has claimed that the SCHIP legislation extends coverage to families earning over $80,000. However, the bill in question limits SCHIP dollars to children in families with incomes at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, which is approximately $60,000 a year for a family of four.
Why such discrepancies between the President’s statements and the actual bill? Well, several things might be at work here. It’s possible that President Bush has not read the legislation. It’s also possible that he’s receiving bad advice from his cronies. It’s also possible that he’s purposely trying to mislead the American public so that folks will get behind his veto. It’s much easier to sell bad policy with “truthiness” than by admitting that this veto was made in deference to the private insurance industry and big tobacco companies (much of the new SCHIP funding comes from an increase in tobacco taxes).
Whatever it is, one thing is clear: Bush’s veto makes no sense. It’s an exceedingly bad policy decision that puts children across this country at risk. Let’s hope that Congress can muster the votes tomorrow to override the President (and the insurance industry and big tobacco) to provide health care to children who need it the most.
We’ll keep you posted.
-By Stefanie Sidortsova, Health Care Advocate
In vetoing the bill, President Bush, always an ally of the private insurance industry, claimed the legislation was a move toward “federalized” health care and that he believes in private insurance. Oddly enough, under the SCHIP program, children are typically enrolled in private health insurance plans, and there is no federally established or recommended benefits package.
Additionally, Bush has claimed that the SCHIP legislation extends coverage to families earning over $80,000. However, the bill in question limits SCHIP dollars to children in families with incomes at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, which is approximately $60,000 a year for a family of four.
Why such discrepancies between the President’s statements and the actual bill? Well, several things might be at work here. It’s possible that President Bush has not read the legislation. It’s also possible that he’s receiving bad advice from his cronies. It’s also possible that he’s purposely trying to mislead the American public so that folks will get behind his veto. It’s much easier to sell bad policy with “truthiness” than by admitting that this veto was made in deference to the private insurance industry and big tobacco companies (much of the new SCHIP funding comes from an increase in tobacco taxes).
Whatever it is, one thing is clear: Bush’s veto makes no sense. It’s an exceedingly bad policy decision that puts children across this country at risk. Let’s hope that Congress can muster the votes tomorrow to override the President (and the insurance industry and big tobacco) to provide health care to children who need it the most.
We’ll keep you posted.
-By Stefanie Sidortsova, Health Care Advocate
Labels: health care, legislation
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