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Our Voice: An editorial on the State Children's Health Insurance Program
The way the Democrats on Capitol Hill are churning the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for all of its political cream, every Tiny Tim in America will be on their 2008 campaign milk cartons.
Of course, a defiant President Bush will probably act like Scrooge when he shortly gets the legislation by shouting, “Bah humbug,” with every stroke of his veto pen.
There will be no compromise; the Democrats don’t want any since they’ve found their saga for the 2008 campaign, and Bush has cornered himself in the Oval Office with his conservative fiscal principles. If this controversy over which American children should have federal-subsidized health insurance drags out into the holidays, even Santa Claus will avoid the White House Christmas party.
How serious politically is this issue of providing adequate health insurance for America’s children? Conservative Republicans are sounding like Rodney King when they ask, “Can’t we all get along?” They seek a compromise to keep at least 800,000 mostly middle-income kids from becoming health insurance-less overnight.
SCHIP works, and that’s why majorities in Congress (a supermajority in the Senate) and even Bush want to put more money into the $5 billion program. But Bush, with his proposed $1 billion a year increase of SCHIP, wants to return the program to its roots — kids at 200 percent of the poverty level or lower. Congress and governors who operate the program want a $7 billion a year increase and the ability to cover kids up to 400 percent of the poverty level. That could raise the number of insured kids from 6.6 million to 10 million and reduced the number of uninsured now at 9 million.
Bush resembles Scrooge because the newly insured kids don’t get a free Christmas dinner; their families are responsible — like good conservative Republicans — for monthly premiums and co-pays and must be U.S. citizens.
And who would pay for the extra billions requested in the legislation? Not little, old ladies, as Bush backers blindly assert. But smokers — the people who drive up the rest of America’s health insurance costs.
With that, the president may get a visit from several ghosts after the stroke of 12 one of these nights.
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It looks like "Thanksgiving" is upon us already.
Please children, look the other way. Now, the CHIP has their hand out too, just like everyone else. And they are trying to bash the candy out of the president's pinyatta. So grab what you can kids.
What is it with you people? What?, everyone gets a buck to swing the stick nowadays? Who is paying you for all this? Gerald "Jerry" McNerney or Hillary?
Ok, so GW isn't the greatest prez who ever lived. I can admit it, but why is it that everyone tries to be a Jay Leno these days? There is only one Jay Leno, and you can tell HIM apart because he is the guy with the motorcycle and car collection. And his crap is actually funnier than this sh!t.
Oh by the way, you can just "step over" those homeless people on the street, until Christmas, then we will drop a quarter in their hand to feel better about ourselves.
Really, don't worry about them, maybe half of us will all just drop a "quarter" in the election box in 08 and then we can all feel better about ourselves then too?
Yeah right!
Works both ways - think about it!