Spring Break
Child's healthcare: An unalienable right
Jamie Thomson
Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Ed-Op
I was riding my bike past Rittenhouse Square on my way home from work one brisk Tuesday evening when a flock of protesters caught my eye. They were a lovely group of people, young and old, proudly holding signs above their heads in hopes of pulling the attention of the rush hour mob away from the daily grind and onto a critical issue: healthcare for America's children.
On Oct. 3, President Bush used the fourth veto of his presidency to put down a bill that would expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides assistance to thousands of children whose families don't qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance.
For the record, George Bush does not hate poor kids. In fact, he strongly supports the SCHIP program; he even proposed a 20 percent increase in funding for it back in February. He opposes this new bill for a few reasons, the first of which is the price tag. The bill proposes to extend SCHIP's $5 billion per year funding for five years, as well as add an additional total of $35 billion over that period of time (the House originally proposed a $45 billion increase). This brings the total spending for 5 years to $60 billion. I must admit, I was hit with a twinge of sticker-shock when I first saw those numbers… probably because I'm not accustomed to dealing in the billions. But an extra $35 billion means four million kids will get to go to the doctor when they need to, and that's surely worth it.
The bill proposes to fund itself by increasing taxes on tobacco products. It certainly makes sense to me to tax an industry infamous for causing health problems in order to fund healthcare, but the President doesn't seem to agree that this is an appropriate or sufficient source of funding.
The Rittenhouse protesters also made a great point: SCHIP could be fully funded for a year for what we spend on just 42 days of war in Iraq. Obviously, Mr. Bush would prefer to spend our tax dollars "staying the course" 42 more days at a time until he leaves office rather than cutting a bit of military funding for the good of our nation's children.
On Oct. 3, President Bush used the fourth veto of his presidency to put down a bill that would expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides assistance to thousands of children whose families don't qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance.
For the record, George Bush does not hate poor kids. In fact, he strongly supports the SCHIP program; he even proposed a 20 percent increase in funding for it back in February. He opposes this new bill for a few reasons, the first of which is the price tag. The bill proposes to extend SCHIP's $5 billion per year funding for five years, as well as add an additional total of $35 billion over that period of time (the House originally proposed a $45 billion increase). This brings the total spending for 5 years to $60 billion. I must admit, I was hit with a twinge of sticker-shock when I first saw those numbers… probably because I'm not accustomed to dealing in the billions. But an extra $35 billion means four million kids will get to go to the doctor when they need to, and that's surely worth it.
The bill proposes to fund itself by increasing taxes on tobacco products. It certainly makes sense to me to tax an industry infamous for causing health problems in order to fund healthcare, but the President doesn't seem to agree that this is an appropriate or sufficient source of funding.
The Rittenhouse protesters also made a great point: SCHIP could be fully funded for a year for what we spend on just 42 days of war in Iraq. Obviously, Mr. Bush would prefer to spend our tax dollars "staying the course" 42 more days at a time until he leaves office rather than cutting a bit of military funding for the good of our nation's children.
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