Why is Bush neglecting our children?
Amanda Arbour
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Opinion
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Over the past few weeks there has been political drama over the renewal of SCHIP - the State Children's Health Insurance Program. When President Bush threatened to veto it, I thought it was just for political posturing.
However, when I heard that he had indeed vetoed, I was in a state of anger and disbelief: anger, because 6.6 million children nationwide depended on this program for their health insurance; disbelief, because this was a bipartisan program that 76% of Americans supported.
Bush is already so unpopular - does he really want to make his numbers plunge lower?
SCHIP was created in 1997, aimed at providing health insurance to children whose families weren't eligible for Medicaid but couldn't afford private insurance. Unlike many critics claim, it is not "socialized medicine" - it is a partnership with the states in which federal dollars partially fund medical care which is provided by the private healthcare sector. States have the ability to tailor their programs and requirements to the needs of their residents. During the 10 years of its operation, SCHIP has cut the number of uninsured children in America by a third.
Despite this dramatic success, there are still 9 million without insurance. This is why, when SCHIP came up for renewal, Congressional Democrats and Republicans sought to expand it to cover more children. The bill that went to the President's desk would have expanded the program by $35 billion to cover an additional 3.8 million children.
Bush has argued that these additional funds will go towards subsidizing healthcare for middle class families who make up to $83,000 a year. However, this is a manipulation of statistics by the Bush Administration.
This SCHIP expansion would allow children from families up to 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to be eligible, instead of only those up to 200%. According to the nonpartisan Urban Institute, 70% of children covered will be from families earning less than $40,000 a year. The majority of the remaining children will be from families earning less than $62,000. The only way that children from a family earning $83,000 would be eligible is if they were from a family of 6 at 300% FPL - which is a very small proportion of the eligible population.
However, when I heard that he had indeed vetoed, I was in a state of anger and disbelief: anger, because 6.6 million children nationwide depended on this program for their health insurance; disbelief, because this was a bipartisan program that 76% of Americans supported.
Bush is already so unpopular - does he really want to make his numbers plunge lower?
SCHIP was created in 1997, aimed at providing health insurance to children whose families weren't eligible for Medicaid but couldn't afford private insurance. Unlike many critics claim, it is not "socialized medicine" - it is a partnership with the states in which federal dollars partially fund medical care which is provided by the private healthcare sector. States have the ability to tailor their programs and requirements to the needs of their residents. During the 10 years of its operation, SCHIP has cut the number of uninsured children in America by a third.
Despite this dramatic success, there are still 9 million without insurance. This is why, when SCHIP came up for renewal, Congressional Democrats and Republicans sought to expand it to cover more children. The bill that went to the President's desk would have expanded the program by $35 billion to cover an additional 3.8 million children.
Bush has argued that these additional funds will go towards subsidizing healthcare for middle class families who make up to $83,000 a year. However, this is a manipulation of statistics by the Bush Administration.
This SCHIP expansion would allow children from families up to 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to be eligible, instead of only those up to 200%. According to the nonpartisan Urban Institute, 70% of children covered will be from families earning less than $40,000 a year. The majority of the remaining children will be from families earning less than $62,000. The only way that children from a family earning $83,000 would be eligible is if they were from a family of 6 at 300% FPL - which is a very small proportion of the eligible population.
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