SCHIP must be reauthorized
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t is almost surreal, how out of touch some politicians are with their constituents. From lax ethics, budget-busting bills and big annual pay hikes -- practices that would get them a quick hook in the private sector -- they just chug along, growing more distant from Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class.
The latest example is President Bush's promise to veto bipartisan legislation to increase funding for children's health care. The State Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act may expire on Sept. 30 if Congress doesn't get a bill President Bush will sign. SCHIP offers health care for children whose families make too much to receive Medicaid, but can't afford private health care. Money is alloted to the states to provide care.
With our growing health care access problem, SCHIP is a much-needed program that rewards families with working parents. It would seem a no-brainer to renew it with a necessary increase in costs.
Guess again: Here's the problem: There are 3.2 million additional kids who need to be covered. The House of Representatives passed a bill -- narrowly -- to up SCHIP funding by $50 billion. The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed an increase of $35 billion. The House and the Senate will probably reach agreement on a bill to send to President Bush.
The president, however, is offering only a $5 billion increase in SCHIP funding. He threatens to veto any increase above that figure. His rationale is spurious and petulant. He claims the higher increase is an attempt by Congress to bring socialized health care to the U.S.
"If SCHIP is used to expand the nationalization of health care, I will veto it," Bush told the Associated Press.
Well, Mr. President, that's a nice soundbite, but it's deceitful. The fact is we have an enormous health care crisis in this country. The costs for care and medicine skyrocket every year. The increases boggle the mind, but still they occur. It has already choked the poor's resources and now it is squeezing the middle class. Each year, more workers can't afford private insurance. We need a much larger increase in SCHIP funding to handle that shortfall.
SCHIP must be reauthorized with the necessary increase in funding. But if Bush vetoes SCHIP renewal, the House will likely uphold his veto.
Politicians such as the president and our local congressman, Rep. Rob Bishop, are wrong when they call the SCHIP reauthorization a step towards socialized medicine. If politicians don't like increases in federal funding to provide children's health funding, then they better cancel their calls with lobbyists, get off their rear ends, and figure out ways to fix the current health care crisis.
While Congress and Bush dither, we urge all families who qualify for SCHIP to sign up for the program. If you sign up before Sept. 30, your children will still -- at the least -- receive care for several months. SCHIP will be having a drive for membership in late summer. The 2007 Children's Health Insurance Van Tour 2007 will be in Brigham City on Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. at the Brigham City City Peach Days Parade, 200 S. Main Street.
It is an outrage that one child goes without health care in this nation. It is a tragedy when a child who is eligible for health care does not receive because of the inattention of his parents or caretakers
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