I have to admit I haven’t been following this as diligently as perhaps I should have. I do know the bill the dems want will increase my taxes significantly. I also know it’s quite a bastardization, offering healthcare to middle income families and adults, and NOT solely to the poor children, AS IT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED.
Once again, however, the Dems, in their rabid race to once again expose their rampant BDS, have forgotten to fact check their little poster boy, Graeme Frost, the 12-year old injured in a car wreck and helped back to health by CHIP in his home state of Maryland (Baltimore, to be exact). Graeme gave the weekly Democratic Radio Address in response to Bush’s veto.
One of Graeme’s quotes:
“I don’t know why President Bush wants to stop kids who really need help from getting CHIP. All I know is I have some really good doctors. They took great care of me when I was sick, and I’m glad I could see them because of the Children’s Health Program. [Emphasis mine]
His entire address can be read here.
Reading his speech makes me want to throw up. There is NO question he and his sister were severely injured in a car wreck. That’s absolutely tragic; there is no dispute about that in any way.
What CAN be disputed is the facts regarding the family’s actual need for CHIP.
The family is not qualified, in general, because it doesn’t meet Federal Poverty Guidelines found here. According to the FPG, a family of six cannot make more than $27, 610. The Frost’s reported income is in the $45,000 range. Dad Halsey owns his own woodworking and design company (“Frostworks”); mom Bonnie works for a medical publishing firm. Prior to working for the medical publishing firm, Bonnie worked for Frostworks as bookkeeper and operations manager. She went to work for the medical publishing firm this year, 2007.
The medical publishing firm doesn’t provide health insurance for its employees. Apparently, Dad, while owning a woodworking and design company, refused to purchase/provide healthcare for himself, his wife and his employees. So, because of Dad’s REFUSAL to provide healthcare, taxpayers like you and I have to pay for his and his family’s healthcare.
Their financial situation is further detailed in other posts; I’ll link them at the bottom, but will round up the facts here in one spot.
The Frosts live in a 3,040 square foot home in an area where a similar end unit (although only 2,060 square feet) sold for $485,000 in March, 2007. They don’t live in the slums, people. The children attend a private school where the tuition runs $20,000 PER CHILD, per year. They own commercial real estate and they recently remodeled their home with expensive upgrades.
Uh huh. Ok.
So, they can afford to remodel their home, live in a home valued in the half million dollar range, send two of their four children to an exclusive private school to the tune of $40,000, own commercial real estate (in which another company may or may not rent space from them)–but they can’t afford healthcare AND THEY ONLY REPORT $45,000 in income.
The math doesn’t add up, for starters. They don’t meet Federal Poverty Guidelines. They CAN AFFORD healthcare but CHOOSE NOT TO purchase it, preferring taxpayers foot the bill for them.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the poster family for SCHIP. This is who Dems use to “prove their point” for the underprivileged who have NO HOPE of affording their own healthcare.
I don’t think so. SCHIP is meant for those who cannot afford any kind of healthcare and are not provided care through their jobs. NOT over-privileged families who can afford it and choose not to provide it to their own families, relying on the government and our tax dollars instead.
President Bush’s speech regarding this issue can be found here.
Text of the SCHIP Bill can be found here.
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And here is another article in which the White House sets the record straight regarding Pelosi’s Misrepresentation of SCHIP:
Setting the Record Straight: Speaker Pelosi Misleads on SCHIP
Congress’ Bill Would Expand SCHIP Beyond Poor Children It’s Intended
To Help; Move Children From Private To Government Insurance
“The policies of the government ought to be help poor children and to focus on poor children. … Poor kids first.”
– President George W. Bush, 10/3/07
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrongly stated Congress’ bill is “just enrolling all of the children who are eligible” and not “expanding an eligibility” for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). (Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Floor Statement, U.S. House Of Representatives, 10/3/07)
- There are hundreds of thousands of children eligible for SCHIP under current law who are not signed up for the program. SCHIP was created to cover children in families with annual incomes at or below 200 percent of the Federal poverty level.
- Congress’ bill explicitly rejects a requirement that 95 percent of eligible children from families with incomes under 200 percent of the poverty level must be enrolled in SCHIP before children in higher-income families can be covered.
- Congress’ bill would also allow SCHIP to cover children in some households with incomes of up to $83,000 per year – 400 percent of the Federal poverty level.
Speaker Pelosi inaccurately claimed Congress’ bill is “about private medicine.” (Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Floor Statement, U.S. House Of Representatives, 10/3/07)
- Under Congress’ plan, one out of every three additional children moving onto government coverage would be moving from private insurance. Of the approximately 6 million enrollees Congress’ legislation would attract by 2012, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that 2 million would drop private insurance to enroll.
- The policies of the government ought to be helping people get private insurance, not Federal coverage. That’s why the President believes strongly in Association Health Plans to help small business owners better afford insurance for their workers and believes we ought to change the Federal tax code to help individuals better afford insurance in the marketplace.
Speaker Pelosi falsely accused the President of “miss[ing] an opportunity to say to the children of America, your health and well-being are important to us.” (Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Floor Statement, U.S. House Of Representatives, 10/3/07)
- Today, President Bush reiterated his strong support for SCHIP. THE PRESIDENT: “I strongly support the program. I like the idea of helping those who are poor be able to get health coverage for their children. I supported it as governor, and I support it as President of the United States.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks To The Lancaster Chamber Of Commerce And Industry, Lancaster, PA, 10/3/07)
This year, the Administration will spend about $35.5 billion to provide health insurance for poor children through Medicaid. THE PRESIDENT: “In other words, when they say, ‘Well, poor children aren’t being covered in America,’ if that’s what you’re hearing on your TV screens, I’m telling you there’s $35.5 billion worth of reasons not to believe that.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks To The Lancaster Chamber Of Commerce And Industry, Lancaster, PA, 10/3/07)
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People, get your heads in the game on this issue. This is plain and simple the first step towards socialized medicine. Aren’t we taxed enough? Why should we provide healthcare to those that can afford it themselves? Why are they even receiving benefits when they don’t even qualify under the FPG?
“Morally unacceptable” is how the Dems are representing the president for vetoing SCHIP as they presented it (once again, as they waited until the last minute to present it to the president and even with their foreknowledge he would veto it in the form they presented).
However, it’s “morally acceptable” in THEIR eyes to cheat those who truly NEED the bill by parading a family who is far too wealthy to be receiving this care.
Who truly is risking the healthcare needed by the poor?
It’s not the president and it’s not those who voted against this travesty–once again, it’s the Dems, playing a partisan game for politics, parading the wealthy in the guise of the poor, refusing to check facts and attempting to force their socialization on us, the taxpayer.
Others writing about this:
Wake Up America
Don Surber
Brutally Honest
The Corner
Wizbang
The Shotgun Blog
Blue Crab Boulevard
Protein Wisdom
Miss Beth's Stomping Grounds 