SCHIP: Another Step Towards Socialism
What about the children? That will be the response coming from the Democrat Party and the majority of the media when President Bush vetoes the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) shortly.
What is SCHIP? It is a federally provided insurance program that pays the health insurance costs for poor children, specifically those whose families are living at 200% and below of the poverty line.
The program was created by the Republican Congress in 1997 with one and only purpose: to subsidize, with federal funds, health insurance for poor children ineligible for Medicaid but unable to afford private insurance.
Yet the initial bill only authorized the program for 10 years. Now it is time for reauthorization, but the Democrats in Congress want to massively expand the program (never mind the possibly of eliminating the program since once a government program is created it never dies).
Today, the SCHIP program costs about $5 billion per year and covers about 6.6 million kids. However, the new program proposed by Congressional Democrats raises the number covered to approximately 9 million, at more than double the cost. Such an expansion would cover those children whose families earn up to $83,000. That is not poor, that is upper-middle class. This new bill is not for poor kids, it is a new middle-class entitlement.
In addition, the new bill does not just cover children, it covers hundreds of thousands of adults. Far from being "for the children," SCHIP already covers 670,000 adults. The new law will increase that. And by the way, illegal aliens are eligible too, due to large loopholes.
But the worst part of the bill is that it will crowd out the private sector that is already providing health insurance to the majority of poor and middle-class citizens. A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study (Footnote 39) revealed 77% of children affected by this expansion already have personal health insurance. Expanding SCHIP will serve as a taxpayer funded substitute to these personal insurance plans. The result will be that many children who already have health insurance will leave the private sector and taxpayers will be stuck with the bills.
Ultimately, Republicans and President Bush have no one to blame but themselves. This is yet another example of how the Democrat Party in this country will expand the reach and size of government at every opportunity. Republicans have given up their free-market, small-government credentials under President Bush and the country and the private sector are much worse off for it. If Republicans do not stop surrendering on the issues of the expansion of the federal government and continue to support and implement more and more entitlement programs such as SCHIP and the Medicare prescription drug bill, then America’s economy will soon become as socialist as those in Western Europe. That bodes ill for the next generation of Americans. Their opportunities for becoming successful will be greatly diminished by the inefficiency and wastefulness of government.
Americans better wake up. It is easy to say that the federal government should pay for the health care of children, but this proposal by the Democrats is a clear precursor to a federal takeover of the health care system in America. If you want the government deciding when and how you get medical attention, then you should support this bill. But for those who realize that federally controlled health care will be a disaster know better. I, and many other Americans, are weary of paying for the goods and services that everyone else should have to pay for themselves. Sooner than most realize, the federal government will run out of money to pay for all the “freebies” everyone demands they have a right to possess.
Any comments or questions can be received at whyyouareaconservative@gmail.com
~ The Conservative Guy
What is SCHIP? It is a federally provided insurance program that pays the health insurance costs for poor children, specifically those whose families are living at 200% and below of the poverty line.
The program was created by the Republican Congress in 1997 with one and only purpose: to subsidize, with federal funds, health insurance for poor children ineligible for Medicaid but unable to afford private insurance.
Yet the initial bill only authorized the program for 10 years. Now it is time for reauthorization, but the Democrats in Congress want to massively expand the program (never mind the possibly of eliminating the program since once a government program is created it never dies).
Today, the SCHIP program costs about $5 billion per year and covers about 6.6 million kids. However, the new program proposed by Congressional Democrats raises the number covered to approximately 9 million, at more than double the cost. Such an expansion would cover those children whose families earn up to $83,000. That is not poor, that is upper-middle class. This new bill is not for poor kids, it is a new middle-class entitlement.
In addition, the new bill does not just cover children, it covers hundreds of thousands of adults. Far from being "for the children," SCHIP already covers 670,000 adults. The new law will increase that. And by the way, illegal aliens are eligible too, due to large loopholes.
But the worst part of the bill is that it will crowd out the private sector that is already providing health insurance to the majority of poor and middle-class citizens. A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study (Footnote 39) revealed 77% of children affected by this expansion already have personal health insurance. Expanding SCHIP will serve as a taxpayer funded substitute to these personal insurance plans. The result will be that many children who already have health insurance will leave the private sector and taxpayers will be stuck with the bills.
Ultimately, Republicans and President Bush have no one to blame but themselves. This is yet another example of how the Democrat Party in this country will expand the reach and size of government at every opportunity. Republicans have given up their free-market, small-government credentials under President Bush and the country and the private sector are much worse off for it. If Republicans do not stop surrendering on the issues of the expansion of the federal government and continue to support and implement more and more entitlement programs such as SCHIP and the Medicare prescription drug bill, then America’s economy will soon become as socialist as those in Western Europe. That bodes ill for the next generation of Americans. Their opportunities for becoming successful will be greatly diminished by the inefficiency and wastefulness of government.
Americans better wake up. It is easy to say that the federal government should pay for the health care of children, but this proposal by the Democrats is a clear precursor to a federal takeover of the health care system in America. If you want the government deciding when and how you get medical attention, then you should support this bill. But for those who realize that federally controlled health care will be a disaster know better. I, and many other Americans, are weary of paying for the goods and services that everyone else should have to pay for themselves. Sooner than most realize, the federal government will run out of money to pay for all the “freebies” everyone demands they have a right to possess.
Any comments or questions can be received at whyyouareaconservative@gmail.com
~ The Conservative Guy
posted by The Conservative Guy at
3:51 PM
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