Why Did Bush Veto the SCHIP Program?
It makes no political sense for Bush to veto the S-Chip bill. HE’s certainly not doing so to hold down costs. So what’s the reason?
Does he not care for little kids pulling little red wagons? I’m thinking that’s too simple. Hey, we’re going to either override this veto or not. Yeah, children deserve healthcare, and getting them good healthcare for their entire childhoods saves lots of money in the long run. Taxing cigarettes to pay for this program will save even more money and lives, because there’s price elasticity in cigarettes, and the higher the price the fewer people will smoke.
Mike Hall notes that vetoing the SCHIP bill puts Bush against a whole host of Americans.
Shunning the wishes of the majority of the public and snubbing members of his own party who support ensuring that millions of America’s children will have access to health care, President Bush today vetoed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) renewal bill.
Bush refused to listen to many leading Republican lawmakers who joined with nearly every Democrat in the House and Senate who voted to reauthorize the program.
The president ignored the 4 million additional children who would be eligible for health care coverage under the reauthorization—joining the 6.6 million already enrolled.
He disregarded the 81 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 61 percent of Republicans who told an ABC News-Washington Post poll they support the $35 billion increase in the bill so more children get health coverage.
He vetoed the children’s health bill two days after he declared Oct. 1 as Child Health Day.
Is he stupid? OK, don’t answer that.
I’m thinking George Bush really does think that only poor kids need insurance. I’m thinking Bush is so out of touch with the cost of healthcare and health insurance that he has no clue as to the impact those costs have on average families. Yeah, health insurance for the kids costs average families thousands of dollars they can ill afford. And I don’t think anyone has told Bush those facts. He’s gotten fully-paid health insurance for his family for the last 15 years, after all. No, I doubt Bush has any clue as to the impact a health insurance bill has on the average family.
Bush may indeed hate little kids pulling little red wagons, but I’m thinking he’s not stupid on this subject. He’s ignorant, and I’m betting the insurance industry would like to keep Mr. Bush ignorant on the subject. Mr. Bush would be better off, certainly, listening to Doctors, instead. But I guess his Administration has already abused science so many times that it’s a hard habit to break.
For further reading, try out Rob Nelb and The Carpetbagger.
I was a single mother of 2 I worked 2 jobs to support me and my children. I did not ask for
you or anyone else to send me money for my kids.What people forget is the government has NO MONEY it is my money and everyone that works in this countries money.
I struggled to provide for my children but I PROVIDED not the “Government”
I got up everyday and went to work I did not have the ability to go out and eat or buy alot of clothes but I made it. I made certain choices in my life and the life that I had with my kids was what I made of it. I also taught my kids that in order to get ahead in life is to stay in school and work for everythiing you have I also told them that if they could not afford to support a child and family that they needed to be careful and use protection if they decided to have sex.( birth control is free after all) . Why is it my responsibility to pay for you or anyone else that doesnt have a job and doesnt use free birth control . if you are old enough to have sex than you are old enough to be responsible for your actions I made choices My children made choices and I take care of myself it is not the responseability of a person I have never met to take care of me or my family. When are we going to say enough is enough either you stay in school or get ajob. Support yourself and your own kids.
Whoa, Paula. Heck of a right wing rant there.
I have no problem with assuming responsibility for one’s life (and choices thereof). We all have to live with the decisions that we make. But what you’re telling me is that you are so callous that you would let children whose parents can’t afford health insurance get sick and/or die because their parents wouldn’t (or couldn’t) get them health care when they needed it?
What kind of sanctimonious, holier-than-thou world do you live in? Because I sure don’t want to live there…
I raised two kids by myself, too, so I know what it’s like. And I say that a mother’s first responsibility is the health and well-being of her children, not some anti-government ideology.
These days fewer and fewer jobs come with health insurance benefits. Parents who don’t have health insurance for themselves and their children are in terrible jeopardy. Not only will they have less access to quality health care; without insurance, one serious accident or illness could cost the family their home and savings.
Paula apparently thinks its better to jeopardize children than to use the government the Founding Fathers gave us to apply remedies to the health care crisis. That’s rather un-motherly, I say.
Paula doesn’t seem to realize that there are a lot of people who get up every day and go to work, don’t eat out, don’t buy new clothes often, etc., and still can’t afford health insurance.
When are people going to see that this “pay for it youself, jerk” attitude is corrosive to the national soul?
There is a trait I’ve talked about for years whereby people who have struggled or suffered seemingly want the rest of the world to suffer or struggle as well. It is as if their anger at their own lot in life leads them to wish the same upon all others who encounter misfortune.
I relate it to the parent who throws his kid into the lake to teach him or her how to swim because that’s what his own dad did to him. I’m not certain on the psychology that leads to sadism but I suspect it has at it’s core an element of, “it was done to me so I’ll do it to another”. Unfortunately, we see way too much of this type of thinking.
Paula, I feel for you and your struggles…but instead of emerging from them with empathy, you came out on the other side with bitterness and animosity. If you stopped to think about that eventuality, you would realize that you are simply perpetuating the very circumstances that led to your bitterness. Is that what you wish for your children and the children of other mothers in similar situations? I hope not…but I’m not sure I will like your answer.
Take this for what it’s worth, but do you really want to contribute to making this a more hostile, less caring world? If you can see that the world let you down, why do you want it to let everyone else down…are you that angry and vindictive? I hope not.
Regards,
Daniel
The president vetoed SCHIP as a result of lobbying by BIG TOBACCO. Increasing the cost of cigarettes would result in the loss of 10 to 15% of the cigarette market. Sometimes paying back election contributions is a bitch.
I raised two kids and worked FOUR jobs. I would have been thrilled to have gotten CHIPS for my kids.
Hmmmm… Healthcare should be as much a part of our national infrastructure as roads, libraries, and national defense. Think of it as National Defense against illness rather than ideological enemies.
I made a lot of money at one point and had set my family up so that we could comfortably take care of ourselves while I started a new business that would allow my wife and I the opportunity to spend the most time possible with our kids. I knew that it would take time to grow the business, but it would be best for the family.
Shortly after my money flow stopped, she left with my best friend leaving me a single dad to raise two kids that she sees on the weekends. I’ve never taken any government entitlement for myself. I work very hard, but my life circumstances are such that, without Healthy Families Healthcare for my kids they wouldn’t have any health care at all. None. I didn’t choose this life, but I’ve paid more taxes that most people whining about sharing the burden of healthcare for kids. I’m happy that I have help to take care of mine until I’m able to foot the bill myself.
-RB
This comment is for Paula, the person to make a comment on October 4, 2007 at 8:27am.
Are you retarded?
CHIP is not welfare or even medicaid. The families who utilize it have to pay for it. You state that you worked 2 jobs to support your children and you don’t want to pay taxes for other children. Well, if you would study up and get your facts straight, the taxes that help pay for the CHIP program are from cigarette taxes, so unless you smoke it won’t affect you. If you do smoke, then you should have to pay extra taxes, since you are contributing to health problems of many Americans and to pollution. If you do smoke and you don’t want to pay taxes for the CHIP program, then simply quit smoking.
It seems to me that because you are a hard working tax paying citizen of the US, then your children would have benefited more if you would have only worked one job AND you had taken advantage of programs such as CHIP and, therefore had more time to spend with you children and teach them to have compassion and care about other human beings, especially those less fortunate. I agree with you that you should not have children if you can’t afford them, however, that does not mean that children who are currently living should have to suffer. My mother did not have health insurance for us when we were growing up and she would have to wait until we were so ill that we could have died to take us to the doctor. She worked 2 jobs also. I almost died from strep throat because she could not afford the cost of doctors visits and she was hoping I would get better on my own. If the CHIP program had existed back then, then we would have been able to go to the doctor when we needed to.
I have 3 children and I only work one job. I am lucky enough to have a job that provides health insurance. It is very expensive. I refuse to work 2 jobs even if I did not have health insurance. Children need their parents to raise them and teach them values that obviously were not instilled into you when you grew up. If I work 2 jobs, then I can’t be there to raise them.
Your comment and ignorance do not suprise me, just anger me. Unfortunately, many people share your ignorance. It is people like you that make others say “What is wrong with kids these days?” The real question is “What is wrong with parents?” What is wrong with you that you think that others should suffer, especially children? YOU are what is wrong with this country and YOU are contributing to all that is wrong with the world with your stupidity and lack of compassion.
The CHIP program is a great program. I do not use it, but I would be glad to know that it is available if I ever needed it. I also pay taxes and I do not begrudge the programs that help my fellow Americans. And I would not be too proud to utilize such programs if I needed them because I do work hard and pay taxes so that such programs can be availabe.
Here is a good question for you. I would gladly pay extra taxes to ensure that the present and future of our most valuable assett (OUR CHILDREN) is protected. I do not enjoy paying taxes for our greedy presidents war for oil. But I am an American and I will pay what ever taxes I need to pay to support our military regardless of the reason for the war.
Why did YOU have 2 children if you could not afford them? Why didn’t you use birth control? If you had to work two jobs to support them, then it is obvious that you could not afford to have them. It is your ignorance that makes you forget that many families that need the CHIP program may have been able to afford their children when they had them, but due to circumstances beyond their contol, such as death of one parent, job loss or divorce, they are now struggling to make ends meet. How many thousand of parents have been laid off since 9/11? How many husbands (or wifes) leave their spouse with nothing for a younger person? How many thousands of families had a parent unexpectedly pass away? How many generous people are out there raising foster children because their parents or single parent dies, and cannot afford health insuance for all of them? Why were you a sinlge parent working two jobs to support 2 children? What is your excuse?
Rick, healthcare is part of our national infrastructure. That part is broken. Look to the roads and you’ll see another part that is broken. Education is next.
Kayla, you’re right in everything you say.
WOW. After reading what Paula said, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe someone that says they have to work so hard for their children would not understand that sometimes things happen. People loose jobs, people pass away, many many things can go wrong and NOT the way we expect.
Kayla, I would like to thank you for a VERY AMAZING comment! I hope you’re a Social Worker or somehow lobby for the things that are important and put your thoughts out there for others!! Very nice!!!
Why burden one small group of citizens for the cost of this program. I stumbled on this site while trying to figure out why Bush vetoed the bill, and it seems to me that he, for once, did the right thing. Before you get too worked up, I think this program is valuable, and certainly a better, if not just more convenient, option than using the county ER. I have two little kids and to see small children who are sick breaks my heart, just as it does most people. I agree that the little ones who are less fortunate need to have health insurance. I have nothing to back this up, but I would imagine that poorer children would have a higher risk of illness than those from wealthier families, so then this becomes even more important.
But why burden one small, under-represented group to pay for the program?…. Because it is unpopular to smoke AND there isn’t enough of them to put up much of a fight.
I’m a Libertarian and I am assuming (maybe wrongly) than this site is primarily made up of Dems. Democrats are usually the first ones to step-up for the minorities. You ought to be upset at our Legislative branch for bringing an oppressive bill to the table.
Doesn’t it seem just too easy? Imagine if it had to be paid for by a gas-tax hike.
Then Kayla could have said: (her words, I just substituted smoke with drive)
If you do (drive), then you should have to pay extra taxes, since you are contributing to health problems of many Americans and to pollution. If you do (drive) and you don’t want to pay taxes for the CHIP program, then simply quit (driv)ing.
This is a bill I could live with. Of course, it would be very unpopular to raise the gas-tax, but SCHIP is a very popular program.
If you are truly concerned about smokers quitting, then raise the tax and put the money toward programs geared toward getting them to quit, instead of using this minority group of citizens as the punching-bag of congress.
By the way, I’m not a smoker, and don’t care for tobacco in any way at all. It just surprises me that you all think this is okay.