Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2007 > October > 24 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USNew SCHIP bill, same old reaction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Details were still sketchy by Wednesday evening, but House Democrats and the White House are talking about a compromise on the bill that would add hundreds of millions of dollars to Georgia’s PeachCare, a health insurance program for poor kids. The House may vote on it Thursday.
The few details that have already been leaked to reporters, however, indicate that the compromise won’t be changing the minds of the 10 Georgia congressmen who voted against the original bill - and then voted to uphold President Bush’s veto of it - this month.
The compromise would still expand SCHIP, or State Children’s Health Insurance Program, by $35 billion over five years and raise the money through an increase in tobacco taxes, Republicans complained.
It’s not clear yet whether Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon, one of only two House Democrats to vote against the original SCHIP bill, will change his vote - something the state Democratic Party would love to see him do on the eve of Marshall’s re-election campaign.
Rep. Tom Price, a Roswell Republican, has proposed an alternative bill to fund SCHIP through 2012 and he took Wednesday’s news about the compromise as a sign that Democrats have no intention of negotiating the bill with more than a handful of moderate Republicans.
“They’re not working with those of us who are interested in finding a solution, they’re not dealing with our leaders,” Price, a long-time physician, said. “My understanding of the changes they made in the compromise is that they’re nothing but fig leaves. They do nothing to change the structure of the bill.”
The House is expected to approve the compromise if it votes Thursday, just as it did the original version. What Democrats need to see in the vote, however, is whether their new proposal picked up the support of enough Republicans to override Bush’s predictable veto of the bill. The Senate already has those votes.
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Comments
By flip wilson
October 24, 2007 8:04 PM | Link to this
marshall is worthless. a rubber stamp for george w. bush is how he’ll be remembered. no guts at all. pathetic.
By Craig
October 24, 2007 9:54 PM | Link to this
ditto for Dr. Price - what a disgrace
By Good for Jim Marshall and Tom Price
October 25, 2007 2:16 AM | Link to this
Tom Price and Jim Marshall are right. If kids have deadbeat parents who don’t want to work, then those kids don’t get healthcare. It’s a tough world, and if they don’t want to abide by conservative principals, then they deserve what they get. There’s no room for compassion or a helping hand in this world. My tax dollars shouldn’t pay for someone else’s sick kids. Good for Jim Marshall for so loyally supporting President Bush.
By Dawn
October 25, 2007 7:20 AM | Link to this
Do you realize there are Veterans who have no insurance for there family. My husband risked his life for his country and he is the only one covered by the government health care. I now have to stay home to care for him and have been unable to return to work. Not everyone who uses SCHIP are deadbeat parents.
By Dawn
October 25, 2007 7:20 AM | Link to this
Do you realize there are Veterans who have no insurance for there family. My husband risked his life for his country and he is the only one covered by the government health care. I now have to stay home to care for him and have been unable to return to work. Not everyone who uses SCHIP are deadbeat parents.
By J C Brutis
October 25, 2007 7:23 AM | Link to this
Please try to understand that the President’s veto of SCHIP was caused by the expansion of SCHIP to cover families earning up to $80,000 per year.
It hardly seems necessary to saddle the children served by SCHIP and our future generations with a $35,000,000,000 bill that interest on the debt will double every 18 years at 4% interest just to save today’s parents earning $85,000 per year the cost of health insurance to cover their children today.
By The Oddball
October 25, 2007 8:18 AM | Link to this
Sorry, J.C. Brutis. The SCHIP bill that President Bush vetoed does NOT authorize health insurance for families making $80,000 a year. That is a statement that the President made, but which was immediately shown to be incorrect. The vetoed bill does not change the existing SCHIP law which permits each state to set its own eligibilty requirements. Don’t be so quick to swallow the spin of the day.
By Matt Edwards
October 25, 2007 8:24 AM | Link to this
That’s just not true, JC. And better to saddle future generations (i.e., kids) with debt to pay for health care for poor, sick kids than to saddle them with debt for this dumbass war.
By Mike
October 25, 2007 8:27 AM | Link to this
Should I feed you, cloth you, shelter you too? You have borrowed from me so many times you beleive it a right.
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.” Pres. John F. Kennedy
What happened to the proud and independent Americans?
By Nick
October 25, 2007 9:00 AM | Link to this
They are “children” this has nothing to do with them being deadbeats or not Independent, they are children. What kind of country are we becoming that we actually turn our backs on our children. Or maybe they should be Iraqi children because they get more respect from the Congress than our own children.
There also is an economic factor to all of this. If you deny the children Health Care then they don’t get preventative care. When they don’t get preventative care they show up at ER’s like Grady and guess what? We still pay for it. So it’s cheaper to pay up front for the preventative care as we save money and have a more healthy society. But I guess that doesn’t matter to people like the President who because of being born into wealth they have never had o worry about making ends meat or having health care coverage for their children.
By Jim J
October 25, 2007 10:11 AM | Link to this
Absolutely hilarious, these brain-dead Bushbots who want to “hold the line” on health care spending for kids, while cheering on a trillion-dollar catastrophe in Iraq. Idiots.
By Charity
October 25, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this
To the person who stated the deadbeat parent statement, well you are way out of line. I am a full time working single mother, who pays the hell out of taxes, and my children are a part of this program.Unfortunately they offer no insurance at my job. I guess i could get one that did but i would have to take one heck of a cut in pay. Not all kids who are on these programs have lazy parents, some of us have to work and support these kids on our own, and also have to pay taxes. I would prefer my tax dollars going to a program here at home as to sending it overseas to help others who don’t even want our help. many of us can’t afford private insurance, especially when your child has pre-existing conditions that noone will cover for up to 2 years, so what would be the point to pay 350.00 for 2 kids to a company that isn’t going to cover why we need the insurance, just makes not sense and being an only parent that is alot of money, so maybe you should keep your silly comments to yourself, and realize that some people need this since insurance is unaffordable to even those of us who work and pay taxes.
By Charity
October 25, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this
To the person who stated the deadbeat parent statement, well you are way out of line. I am a full time working single mother, who pays the hell out of taxes, and my children are a part of this program.Unfortunately they offer no insurance at my job. I guess i could get one that did but i would have to take one heck of a cut in pay. Not all kids who are on these programs have lazy parents, some of us have to work and support these kids on our own, and also have to pay taxes. I would prefer my tax dollars going to a program here at home as to sending it overseas to help others who don’t even want our help. many of us can’t afford private insurance, especially when your child has pre-existing conditions that noone will cover for up to 2 years, so what would be the point to pay 350.00 for 2 kids to a company that isn’t going to cover why we need the insurance, just makes not sense and being an only parent that is alot of money, so maybe you should keep your silly comments to yourself, and realize that some people need this since insurance is unaffordable to even those of us who work and pay taxes.
By Michael G
October 25, 2007 12:06 PM | Link to this
No one is being saddled with anything. The increase is being paid for by cigarette tax.Pay attention. This is not for deadbeats this is for those in need. A measure of society is it’s ability and willingness to care for those that cannot care for themselves. God help us with this Administration. Perfectly willing to throw billions haphazardly in their doomed war to the point of criminal waste. Yet taking care of children is fiscally irresponsible. I’m embarrased by My President
By Kurt
October 25, 2007 12:09 PM | Link to this
Money spent on preventative healthcare and treatment for kids is an investment in our future; these kids, on the whole, will be healthier, more productive adults with lower healthcare costs.
Money wasted in Iraq: a total loss.
By Lbaumann
October 25, 2007 12:13 PM | Link to this
Why don’t we just give each family a million bucks and tell them your on your own from this point on. Why does it cost 35 billion for 9 million?
By Kurt
October 25, 2007 12:14 PM | Link to this
Hey all- I’m thinking the person who made the “deadbeat parent” post was being sarcastic / ironic….. Like Colbert channeling O’Reilly, etc….
By Angel
October 25, 2007 12:15 PM | Link to this
Bless the Troops and the children! My fellow Americans, it is not a Dem or Rep issue, it is overall Government B.S..
Read between the lines, the Government wants to increase the tobacco tax to pay for the healthcare, while trying to ban smoking mind you and studies show that the majority of cigarette smokers are the poor. Aren’t these the people that they are trying to help?
The people supporting this bill will not end up paying for it, if Americans truly care about the children lets all pay for the healthcare, lets see how much support it will recieve then.
By Julie
October 25, 2007 12:18 PM | Link to this
Same old thing, if we speak out against anything, the losers in the Senate still try to cram it down our throats. Make it available for ALL lower income families or do not make it available at all…
By Julie
October 25, 2007 12:21 PM | Link to this
On a positive note, at least it will not be available to the illegals if it passes.
By Mike
October 25, 2007 12:24 PM | Link to this
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services the 2007 poverty level for a family with 2 adults and 3 children (family of 5) is $24,130. This bill includes children of families making 300% of that or $72,390. Oh wait! Thats me, I can stop paying my share of health insurance at work and get SCHIP for free. Get the point; it’s too much. It needs to be trimmed back to the truly needy, say 100% of the poverty level.
This isn’t about no SCHIP, its about the right amount of SCHIP.
By Dan
October 25, 2007 12:29 PM | Link to this
If you get beyond all the spin, the issue at hand is entitlements and socialism. The Dems want more so they can ensure that every voter will want to elect them to assure the gravy train continues. The president is in favor of helping truly poor children, the SCHIP that is in place, but is correctly trying to resist expanding entitlements and increasing governmental control of all aspects of our lives.
By Shannon
October 25, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this
I agree with the statement, “It is not about SCHIP it is about the right amount for SCHIP.” The amount that they want passed is ridiculous. My husband is the only one working for our family and we make about $55K a year and pay for insurance for our whole family and are still able to pay for everything else in our lives. If we made $72K a year, life would be even better, we could buy a bigger house and a different car, and still be able to pay for insurance. Bush is not a heartless person that is out to try and hurt the people and families who are less fortunate than others. Give me a break, he is a person too, and to think that he is purposely doing this because he was born into wealth? Ridiculous!
By CJ
October 25, 2007 2:27 PM | Link to this
People living at the poverty level shouldn’t have kids or anything that they can’t afford. The middleclass, smokers or not, barely make enough to support their own kids.
By Dr Coles
October 25, 2007 2:39 PM | Link to this
All they had to do was re-authorize the existing law. Instead they are practicing politics at the expense of the poor. The government caused the problem with health care in America by over socializing medicine to the extent it is not completive, and we want to exacerbate the problem? http://www.InteliOrg.com/
By Jennifer
October 25, 2007 2:56 PM | Link to this
Shannon….. you’re right, the President is a person like the rest of us but he’s a vendictive selfish person who should have never been put in office. You need to wake up and realize that Bush doesn’t care anything about anyone but himself and what he can do to move up. We’re wasting all of this money in Iraq for a war that we really don’t even know what we’re fighting over anymore but then turns around and has the nerve to veto a bill to help sick children. I could care less if it’s poor or wealthy children, it’s children and they deserve the best healthcare possible.
By Speak out or stay on the porch
October 25, 2007 4:47 PM | Link to this
To all those saying there’s a need for SCHIP: Quit whining and do something about it. Contact Jim Marshall. Contact Johnny and Saxby. If you aren’t willing to make a phone call, write an e-mail or send a fax, then shut up.
By Linda
November 1, 2007 5:46 PM | Link to this
I make $23,000 a year, I have 3 kids and a dead beat Dad. I have always paid my kids medical bills, I chose a job that has benefits including medical and prescription service. I do not want to pay for people who make 3 times as much as I do to have free child medical! Nor do I want to pay for illegal aliens children to have free medical. My children and I may not have designer clothes, drive a new car, have X-boxes, or cable TV but we pay our own way. I am buying a house and we don’t use government assistance for anything including food stamps. Low income is not 3 times the poverty level, that is middle class! I am totally against any increase to the SChip bill. Give to only the citizens who truly need it! Not to those who think they deserve it!
By Dianna
November 1, 2007 5:59 PM | Link to this
To Jennifer, you sound like a very uncaring, spoiled person, who, if they don’t get their own way, throws a fit. You may not agree with President Bush but he certainly is a caring person, have you ever actually listened to him or just buy into the Democrat ‘blame Bush for everything’ propaganda? Why are we in Iraq, to help people be free…a concept you were born with, never had to fight for. I wish you could for one week go to a third world country, come back here and you would understand why we are there. You take your freedom for granted, like so many other things. In Iraq under Saddam, you would have been arrested, tortured, raped, and maybe killed for speaking your mind. Wake up and grow up and get real! “Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt,” a wise man, Mr Lincoln was!