The President Doesn't Abandon SCHIP

Monday, October 21, 2007

There are children that qualify for Medicaid and those that receive health care from their parents insurance plans, typically in conjunction with their employment. There are poor American children that fall in between this gap and receive no health insurance. The State Children's Health Insurance Plan(SCHIP) was to bridge that gap.

In 1997 the Republican Congress enacted SCHIP as the largest expansion to health care since the 60's. This health plan was designed to reach those that earned too much to qualify for Medicaid and those that were unable to afford private insurance. Ten years down the line today's Democratic Congress was in charge of extending and continuing this coverage for the children. What we saw instead was political wrangling of an unprecedented magnitude. The House Speaker, the third highest ranking governmental official in the land, Nancy Pelosi makes the claim that her Congress passed a bipartisan bill before it was sent to the President's desk. I'll start there. A few Republicans signed onto the bill, true, but that didn't make it a bipartisan effort. If the Legislative Branch keyed the Executive Branch in during the draft as per request then a bipartisan bill may have been possible. President Bush forewarned Congress that a veto would be forthcoming if the bill was not designed according to its intended purpose.

On October, 03rd A forwarded bill not adhering to SCHIP's original mandate looked something like this: An inclusion of hundreds of thousands of adults, folks, that should ring some bells right there. Hey, it's all in the title of Children's Health Insurance. This bill also included upper income children already covered under private plans. Families in some states, specifically NY, earning upwards of 83,000 dollars per annum would have been allowed to continue to solicit for inclusion. I know, ridiculous to say the least. President Bush vetoed the measure as warned.