”In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of children who are eligible but not signed up for government health insurance programs. We will not allow, he said, a lack of attention, or information, to stand between these children and the health care they need.” Fox News
How quickly we forget our promises Mr. President!
I doubt I am not the only one infuriated with President Bush and his veto on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program’s expansion of funds the other day. Outraged and boiling mad when I think about that man and his inability to take care of the nation’s people and their problems. I simply cannot believe he can be so heartless! I could go on about the man and what I think of his policies in Iraq but for right now this veto has given me plenty of fuel to go on a rant ten pages long but I promise it won’t be that long.
SCHIP, as it is known, provides health coverage for roughly 6 million of America’s children whose parents don’t qualify for Medicaid but don’t make enough for private insurance. Congress passed a bill extending funds for the program to further aid children in the program but also enough funds to add an addition 4 million children in need; $35 billion over the course of five years is what was approved by Congress. Leave it to the wise leader to reject something to help so many and suggest that $5 billion over five years would be sufficient. No wait, if more money is needed, more than his 20% increase than he is willing to work with Congress but Congress wants to override his veto stating it isn’t enough. Someone needs to tell him the rising medical costs and the fact that more employers drop their coverage to employees because it is getting to be too much; either that or they are greedy. In either case who can afford the doctors bills, hospital stays or the rising costs of medical coverage.
After I left my father’s house, but before I moved here, I had one job that would give me benefits. That is six years of working and I had benefits for just shy of two years of that. There was a period where I worked two jobs and still couldn’t muster enough for insurance. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t think about such things. A roof over my head, food in my belly and some clothes were my main priorities. I lived with my ex and her family for a nice while and even then the two of us struggled. When we finally got a place of our own, life was by no means easy. I finally had that job that gave me benefits and they took my costs out of my pay but that didn’t mean life was peachy. I still had co-pays and things the coverage just wouldn’t cover and with food and rent expensive as it was, you didn’t always go to the doctor like you should. My point is this. People need this, I could have used it and so could have my ex. There are millions of people just like me and her who struggle everyday to make ends meet and don’t get medical because they simply cannot afford it.
Part of Bush’s issue with this whole thing is that he is afraid that the health care system will eventually turn into a government run system. CNN
Bush used his radio address to once again make the case that he believes the spending increase sought primarily by Democrats is a step “toward their goal of government-run health care for every American.” “Government-run health care would deprive Americans of the choice and competition that comes from the private market,” he said. “It would cause huge increases in government spending.”
Now this is where I have a big problem. What would be wrong with a system where the government made sure its people had what they needed. Take for example Canada, while their health care system is not socialized medicine, the government does pay for nearly 100% of the costs while putting in little for prescription drug costs, dental and emergency medical services. Even with the three not always fully covered it takes a lot of the weight off the Canadian. What the government doesn’t pay for the average person can still afford what it doesn’t, besides we all know how cheap prescriptions are in Canada, a lot of Americans get their prescriptions online through Canadian sites. The Netherlands at one point had the socialized medicine, or government run medical system where they monitor and cover the costs, making it affordable for its people. Dutchie actually had this once upon a time, not too long ago either. She paid every quarter for her coverage and it was €150 and that is including dental and extra insurance. However, she at one point only paid thirty. Do you know what happened? There were people who were rather wealthy who thought it was unfair that they had this system. The less you made the less you paid and the more you made, the more you paid. They thought it wasn’t fair because people with smaller incomes could get medical coverage through the government, people over a certain annual pay would get coverage through the private sector. They thought it wasn’t fair; make it a level playing field. So now Dutchie pays €100 a month, not a quarter and the coverage is less than what she had. If you make under, roughly €20,000 a year, you can apply for a tax break to help cover the costs. It isn’t much but at least they can get help right? This privatized coverage hurts a lot of people. Here in the Netherlands it is mandated to have insurance or else you are fined until you do and then you have to pay back coverage. So either way you have to pay for it and it hurts. Between me and Dutchie we pay €250 a month to have medical and dental coverage where before it would have cost us €200 a quarter and would have had better coverage. This is what privatization does. At least with the old system everyone could afford it. There is one good thing about the system we now have here and this was in practice even before it was privatized. Children from time of birth until they are 18 have full medical and dental coverage. It doesn’t cost the parents anything no matter what their child needs. I understand that privatizing things helps the market grow, in theory, and it gives the public options they otherwise wouldn’t have but one must consider the fact that almost 70% of the American public struggle to have coverage… Most don’t actually have any medical coverage at all and therefore either doesn’t go to the doctors when needed or pile on so much in the way of medical bills that they never see the light of day from it. How does that help the country? The fact that he has vetoed the chance for so many children to have the medical attention they so desperately need makes me sick. He is a selfish, ignorant man who can’t even see what he does to the people he is supposed to protect. Why veto money needed to take care of today’s children so they can have a chance to be the future? He says it would increase government spending. Does he think that if the poorer people had a chance, there might be a decrease in spending elsewhere? There is government spending for Medicaid and Medicare, if it was rolled all into one, wouldn’t that decrease spending. Besides it isn’t like Dutchie didn’t pay for her government controlled medical coverage, she most certainly did, it was just cheaper so if you make it nationwide, you would still get money coming in from the people but they could still afford it. Makes sense to me. Then again, I am just an opinionated American; they won’t listen to what I have to say anyway. People listen to good ol’ Mr. President who is all about the big buck and breaks his promises to poor children. Oh yeah, listen to him instead!
Read about coverage in Holland here and here.
SCHIPS, President Bush Vetos, American Medical coverage, State Childrens Insurance Program, Veto on SCHIPS, Worldly Chatter, Government assistance, Socialized Medical
Part one of this found 
