McGrody speaks out on SCHIP Bill vetoed by Bush
The Jim McGrody (photo) for Congress Campaign
A New Political Voice!
Jim McGrody, Candidate
The House voted last week to dramatically expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). (Click here for analysis of Jim McGrody's vote against this bill) The Democrat SCHIP bill would fund the program at $60 billion over five years-more than double the current budget of $25 billion. To see how the Texas House Delegation voted, click here.
Background on SCHIP
SCHIP was created in 1997 to provide health insurance to children of low-income families that are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. The SCHIP program will expire unless reauthorized.
Extending the program is supported by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both the House and the Senate. President Bush's 2008 budget proposed increasing S-CHIP funding by an additional $5 billion over five years (a 20 percent increase) in order to maintain SCHIP's original purpose of providing funds to poor children who need it most.
However, most Republicans oppose the Democrat SCHIP bill, which they view as an incremental step toward the Democrats' goal of a government-run health care system.
On August 1, the House passed a bill that would increase taxes and cut seniors' Medicare payments to pay for government- run health care for middle class children (and some adults), including over two million children who already have private health coverage. Click here for analysis of Jim McGrody's vote on this bill.
Specifically, to pay for this new entitlement, Democrats voted to raise taxes on private health insurance and cut Medicare benefits by $193 billion, which would cause 3.2 million seniors to lose their current Medicare plan.
The Latest SCHIP Bill: What It Would Do:
Republicans successfully pressured Democrats to strike the unpopular Medicare cuts and the new healthcare tax from the legislation. However, the bill considered last week would instead pay for an SCHIP expansion through substantial tax increases on tobacco products. (According to some estimates, it would take 22 million new U.S. smokers in the next 5 years to pay for this entitlement, or else Congress will have to shift the cost burden to non-smokers)
A New Political Voice!
Jim McGrody, Candidate
The House voted last week to dramatically expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). (Click here for analysis of Jim McGrody's vote against this bill) The Democrat SCHIP bill would fund the program at $60 billion over five years-more than double the current budget of $25 billion. To see how the Texas House Delegation voted, click here.
Background on SCHIP
SCHIP was created in 1997 to provide health insurance to children of low-income families that are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. The SCHIP program will expire unless reauthorized.
Extending the program is supported by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both the House and the Senate. President Bush's 2008 budget proposed increasing S-CHIP funding by an additional $5 billion over five years (a 20 percent increase) in order to maintain SCHIP's original purpose of providing funds to poor children who need it most.
However, most Republicans oppose the Democrat SCHIP bill, which they view as an incremental step toward the Democrats' goal of a government-run health care system.
On August 1, the House passed a bill that would increase taxes and cut seniors' Medicare payments to pay for government- run health care for middle class children (and some adults), including over two million children who already have private health coverage. Click here for analysis of Jim McGrody's vote on this bill.
Specifically, to pay for this new entitlement, Democrats voted to raise taxes on private health insurance and cut Medicare benefits by $193 billion, which would cause 3.2 million seniors to lose their current Medicare plan.
The Latest SCHIP Bill: What It Would Do:
Republicans successfully pressured Democrats to strike the unpopular Medicare cuts and the new healthcare tax from the legislation. However, the bill considered last week would instead pay for an SCHIP expansion through substantial tax increases on tobacco products. (According to some estimates, it would take 22 million new U.S. smokers in the next 5 years to pay for this entitlement, or else Congress will have to shift the cost burden to non-smokers)
- Through this new $35 billion tobacco tax increase, the bill would:
Provide significant increases in federal funds for states to dramatically expand the cost and scope of SCHIP. Under this expansion, a state could decide to make eligible a family of four earning more than $100,000 a year to receive taxpayer subsidized, government-run healthcare under a program that was originally intended for low-income children - Increase the age limit of eligible "children" from 19 years old to 21 years old
- Eliminate the citizenship test for individuals to apply for SCHIP and simply require that they present a Social Security number
- Provide bonuses for states to enroll families with incomes significantly above the poverty line, and include incentives for states to overspend their federal allotments
- Overturn a recent administrative ruling that requires states to enroll 95% of their most disadvantaged children (families below 200% of the poverty line) before adding more middle class families to the program
- Impose a funding "cliff" that manipulates the true cost of this entitlement. By drastically under- funding the last six months of this five year SCHIP extension, Democrats are playing games with American taxpayers and putting at risk the poor families who truly need federal healthcare assistance
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Editor's Note: Edited for length.
Contact Us
email: mcgrody@gmail.com
phone: 830-446-6150
website: http://www.mcgrodyforcongress.com
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