Healthcare for Children – Proposed legislation gets Bush Veto

President Bush indicated that he would veto the new version of legislation for healthcare coverage for children. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) currently funds healthcare coverage for children of families with less than $35,000 income. The thing that seems to create a problem is that the coverage would be extended to children of families where the income is less than 85,000. Mr. Bush feels that this would be the first step toward national health care. While I am not sure that this legislation is a good thing, I do believe that health care should be nationalized. It will not negatively impact our system and those with money can always access the private sector and maintain supplemental insurance to have everything they have today. It would help those who, for one reason or another, do not have access to insurance or healthcare. Illnesses will be diagnosed earlier and the survival rate will increase.

The current proposal intends to use the Medicaid program to offer the coverage. There are also provisions that would allow States to increase coverage to illegal immigrants without risking losing Federal Funding. Access to the program does not seem to be automatic requiring families to go through the bureaucratic hoops of the Medicaid system to be enrolled. I also wonder what limitations will be placed on the actual care and the amount of coverage included. In the environment of US politics this may be the best step that can be made at this time.

SCHIP was originally designed to provide health coverage for uninsured children in low-income families that earn no more than twice the federal poverty limit (approximately $34,000 a year for a family of three). The program provides federal matching funds to states with a cap on total federal expenditures of $40 billion over 10 years. The legislation Congress has passed will expand SCHIP eligibility to families that earn up to four times the federal poverty limit. This means a family of four earning $80,000 a year would be eligible for the program.

Presently 15 states stand to lose their funding if Mr. Bush vetoes this bill. The opponents of this bill will say that either we cannot afford it or that this is just more big government. For the funding argument I find it difficult not to provide an equal opportunity of healthcare to all children when we can spend $2 billion a week to protect the oil company’s profits in the Middle East. About big government I am not sure. I do believe that governments should create equal opportunity for all its citizens no matter how rich their parents are. The two factors that influence equality more than any others are healthcare and education. Thus I believe to give all children the same opportunity to be express their full potential, thus making our nation express its full potential, Education at all levels must be free as should Health Care.

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