Bipartisan SCHIP
Submitted by early-bird on October 2, 2007 - 3:24pm.
Health Care | SCHIP
Why I'm Suing the Bush Administration by Eliot Spitzer Tue Oct 02, 2007
Somebody had to do it.
After months of negotiation and countless attempts at compromise, the Bush Administration is still refusing to let New York and other states across the country expand their State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). The President is refusing to back down from destructive new rules his Administration has imposed – the sole purpose of which are to curb bi-partisan state efforts to insure more of our nation’s children.
The reason? As the President himself put it: "I mean, people have access to health care in America. They can just go to the emergency room."
It is this politics of "not my problem" that has led to the health crisis we have today.
The bureaucratic barriers to coverage the Bush Administration has imposed are not only fundamentally misguided, but also illegal...
Cross posted at Huffington Post.
<!-- polls come after this -->
- Eliot Spitzer's diary :: ::
...They conflict with the statute authorizing SCHIP. Moreover, they were issued without the opportunity for public comment, as required by federal law. Accordingly, I have joined Democratic and Republican governors from states across the country to bring a lawsuit challenging these new rules in court.
It didn’t have to come to this. There is widespread bipartisan support for expanding SCHIP. Even many members of the President’s own party have recognized how out-of-touch he is with the American people, and instead have chosen to support compromise legislation in Congress repealing these arbitrary rules.
Unfortunately, President Bush has repeatedly threatened to veto this bipartisan bill. In justifying his position, his administration has tapped into the politics of fear – branding the effort as "socialism."
Of course, SCHIP has nothing to do with socialism. The government would be the payer, not the provider of care, and families would have a range of private plans from which to choose. But instead of engaging on the merits, the right wing has pulled out socialism from their parade of horribles in order to frighten the public.
The President has also said that those children who already have insurance will choose to give up their coverage in order to join the program.
If you talk to doctors, health care professionals, and state leaders across the country like I have, they know the President is flat-out wrong.
These are the facts.
In New York, we want to expand coverage to every uninsured child in our state. And even though experience at the state level has shown that few children drop their existing coverage in favor of SCHIP, we have instituted some of the most stringent protections in the country in order to both prevent any potential problem and satisfy the White House.
The Bush Administration, however, refuses to compromise and work with us to cover these children.
Ultimately, the President just doesn’t get it. There is a health care crisis in this country, but he continues to ignore the problem while vulnerable children without insurance "just go to the emergency room."
We all know the statistics. There are 400,000 uninsured children in New York. There are 8 million uninsured children in the United States.
These staggering figures are intolerable. On both a moral and practical level, we cannot allow this to stand. The President, however, continues to say the status quo is acceptable.
Children should not have to wait until they get sick enough to go the emergency room to receive treatment. Rather, they need preventive and primary care. Ensuring that children with health problems are diagnosed and treated in a timely manner will save money and save lives.
It is imperative that we all come together to reverse the Bush Administration’s attempt to override the will of Congress, the will of the states, and the needs of our children.
We will continue to defend our nation’s kids – even if the President will not.
This morning I gave a speech to Fordham University students. SCHIP was among the topics. A video is available here.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Seven_states_sue_Bush_administration_over_1001.html
Eight states sue Bush administration over children's health care subsidization
Monday October 1, 2007
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has made good on his threat to sue the Bush administration for attempting to impose federal income thresholds which he says would exclude thousands of children from eligibility for state health insurance subsidies. Seven other states have filed similar lawsuits.
"The Bush administration has gone beyond its regulatory rights," Corzine said during his announcement of the suit today at New Jersey's East Orange Health Center, according to the Associated Press.
"The lawsuit for New Jersey was filed Monday morning in federal court in Trenton," state Attorney General Anne Milgram told the AP, which reports that Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York and Washington have all joined New Jersey in taking their cases to court.
All of the lawsuits are challenging federal attempts to curtail the number of children provided for under each state's version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a federal plan designed to provide for the gap in health coverage among families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, yet still cannot afford insurance privately.
In August, Corzine had written President Bush a letter outlining his concerns about a directive his state had received from the Bush administration which said New Jersey's policy of granting subsidized healthcare for children of families making up to 350 percent above the federal poverty level -- a little more than than $72,000 for a family of four -- could not continue.
"We have provided health coverage to 122,000 children through our successful State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), FamilyCare, and I am deeply concerned about the devastating impact that this misguided policy will have on our efforts to address the growing problem of the uninsured," Corzine's letter read.
"I ask you to reconsider your position given the critical importance of this issue," Corzine continued, warning that he was "prepared, if necessary, to pursue legal action to further the goal of protecting our most vulnerable children."
"This is not living high-on-the-hog," Corzine told reporters today of his state's current threshold for healthcare eligibility for children. "It is a real stretch for individuals."
The lawsuits come as President Bush threatens to veto new legislation passed by Congress that would expand the SCHIP program by $35 billion and grant four million children medical coverage, measures that would effectively make the lawsuits moot.
“SCHIP is an unqualified bipartisan success in New Jersey and in states across the nation, and the Bush Administration’s determination to pursue a course of action that will harm our children’s health is incomprehensible,” Governor Corzine said in a press release.
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/mann/sld002.htm
http://www.senate.gov/~finance/hearings/testimony/2005test/072506ebtest.pdf
http://health.cch.com/news/medicaid/092707a.asp
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=25655
http://statecoverage.net/matrix/waivers.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/74982.php
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070930/NEWS01/709300336/1002/NEWS01
Bush vetoes SCHIP 
by kos Wed Oct 03, 2007
And it's official, done under cover of darkness, behind closed doors.
Mr. Bush wielded his pen with no fanfare just before leaving for a visit to Lancaster, Pa. "He’s not going to change his mind," Dana Perino, the chief White House spokeswoman, said this morning just before the president cast only his fourth veto.
The issue is already showing up in campaign ads, like this one for Montana's Max Baucus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQQc_thFueg
Video: Veto SCHIP
This really will be the gift that keeps on giving all cycle, as Democrats gear up to make it a defining issue in 2008.
That party line, of course, is coming straight from the top, and many observers think it will come back to haunt the entire GOP a year from now. While the bill passed both chambers of Congress with relatively strong bi-partisan support, it failed to get enough votes in the House to override President Bush's veto, which he issued Wednesday morning. Bush insists the expanded program, by raising the income eligibility levels, would draw children away from private insurance plans and act as a first step toward socialized medicine. But Democrats know that ideological debates are no match for pictures of sick children, and they are already training their sights on eight vulnerable Republicans, including Kuhl, who voted against it. "It is a defining vote; it says a lot about people's values and priorities," said Representative Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The Democrats' priorities in this instance are abundantly clear — they intend on making as much political hay of the children's health care veto as they can, whether or not they can eventually turn enough Republicans to override it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has insisted he will continue to send the bill back to Bush's desk without modifying it for wavering Republicans, though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has left the door open for changes. If the President vetoes the bill a hundred times between now and the 2008 elections the Democrats can portray the GOP as voting against sick poor kids. If the GOP caves, they can declare themselves the champions of children's healthcare and finally have a legislative accomplishment to boast about. Either way, they think they can't lose. "It's our hope that these members of Congress, when they hear from their constituents, that they'll choose children's health," Van Hollen said. "If not, voters will hold them accountable." [...]
Massa, a 48-year old retired naval officer who ran against Kuhl in 2004 on a platform largely about Iraq, said he is now making SCHIP his No. 1 priority. "It is rapidly overcoming Iraq and here's why: people have a hard time finding a solution on Iraq, they just can't. This has a solution — this bill makes sense, it is clear and evident."
Democrats plan on waiting a bit before shooting for the override, apparently into early November. Here is where things stand:
First of all, Democrats have the votes to override the veto in the Senate. So the focus is on the House, where we need 19 new votes to override.
Eight Democrats voted against this bill -- Castor, Kucinich, Etheridge, McIntyre, Boren, Hill, Marshall, Taylor, while Diane Watson voted "present". Watson and at least four of those Democrats are expected to change their votes to override (though we don't know which four). Kucinich needs to quit his "purity troll" crap and vote to override the veto.
And then it's off to the races as pressure is brought to bear on the remaining number of Republicans to flip their votes.
It's amazing that Republicans sought to politicize children's health care, but they chose this battle. Not us. And as they bray and whine about those mean Democrats scoring easy political points off this issue, it's important to note that had Republicans done the right thing from the start (and many did so, let's not forget), this wouldn't be anywhere near the political suicide it has become for the GOP.
GAO says either 15 or 16 states have waivers to give SCHIP coverage to parents or adults who do not qualify for Medical - - SCHIP delivers health care to children their parents and child -less individuals maybe that is not something that the public knows or understands; since its inception SCHIP has been the source for primary and acute care for millions of people who would otherwise have to get care in emergency rooms; SCHIP saves states money and takes some of the waste out of the collapsing for profit health care delivery distribution system USA props up by calling it 'the greatest health care system in the world'
http://health.cch.com/news/medicaid/092707a.asp
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=25655
http://statecoverage.net/matrix/waivers.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/74982.php
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070930/NEWS01/709300336/1002/NEWS01
between the children already enrolled that will be thrown off SCHIP and the waiver population - - Bush and his GOP plus Dem enablers are going to take a giant step backwards in what was quietly evolving as health care for all since 1997;
either USA will allow it citizens to have health care or it will not; the powerful medical insurance industry is a death and disability by spread sheet economic model; it is social darwinism and de-population all rolled into one;
debate in the primary is mostly about mandating Americans buy health care INSURANCE;
SCHIP actually delivered health care; because renewal of its funding fell on Sept 3oth it became a political football each side scoring points on the lives and well beings of American citizens;
Congress postponed the deadline from Sept 30th to Nov 16th - - they are going to use their time to negotiate from the middle; in other words whatever solutions the Dems propose will be right of center to beg for Republican votes;
it is likely going to end up like the Medicare prescription benefits; full of holes that hurt the (senior) health care population designed to make bigger profits for corporations;
excerpt: email Sen. Ted Kennedy
When either of us wants to see a doctor, American taxpayers cover 72% of our health care premiums. And when it comes time to pick a medical facility, either of us can go to a government-run hospital like the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
President Bush just vetoed a bill extending and reforming the State Children's Health Insurance Program. So I want to know:
If government-run health care is good enough for me, and is good enough for President Bush, why isn't it good enough for America's children?
http://www.democraticmajority.com/page/s/CHIP
The SCHIP program is ten years old. At present, it provides insurance to 6.6 million low-income children. The program expires on September 30.{ extended to November 16th } here are some basic facts:
Recent cost of the program: Over the past five years, the federal government has spent $25 billion on the SCHIP program.
Current CBO estimate: Due to rising health care costs, it will cost $39 billion over the next five years to maintain the current program.
Bush’s proposal: Bush proposes spending $30 billion on the program in that same five years.
Bipartisan senate proposal: Would spend $60 billion over five years, expanding SCHIP to cover 3.3 million new children.
It’s that senate proposal which Bush has rejected "on philosophical grounds." For the record, the senate plan is authored by one Democrat and two Republicans. Max Baucus is the Dem; Charles Grassley and Orrin Hatch are the Reps.
This morning, we thought it might be worth recalling Bush’s history with the SCHIP program.
Back in April 1999, Lou Dubose penned a detailed report in The Nation on Bush, the GOP’s emerging presidential front-runner. And sure enough! In his own state of Texas, Bush had grappled with the (new) SCHIP program. Dubose spelled it out in this passage:
DUBOSE (4/26/99): While Bush and his staff were pushing the oil-and-gas tax bill through the legislature, they were also fighting to hold the line on health insurance for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to purchase private health insurance. There are 1.4 million children in Texas who have no health insurance. If eligibility were set at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, more than 500,000 of them would qualify to purchase low-cost insurance policies. Bush insisted, however, that the line be set at 150 percent, eliminating 200,000 children in a state second to California in the number of uninsured children and second to Arizona in the percentage of uninsured children. "It shouldn’t even be a fight," said Austin Democratic Representative Glen Maxey, adding that Republican governors in Michigan, California, Florida and New Jersey all agreed to their states' participation in the program. "Christine Whitman is even going to 300 percent," he noted.
That is how the 76th Legislature began in Texas, with the governor flogging a tax break for oil-well owners while limiting a children's health insurance program that brings the state a three-to-one match in federal funds.
The two bills illustrate Bush's dual welfare policies: expanding benefits for clients of the corporate welfare state while imposing harsh restrictions on people in need of help. They are also consistent with most of what Bush has set out to achieve since he was elected in 1994.
The federal government was paying three-fourths of the cost of the new SCHIP program—but Bush had fought to restrict its use. More specifically, he fought the Texas legislature and won, thereby "eliminating 200,000 children [from the program] in a state...second to Arizona in the percentage of uninsured children."
Two months later, Bush kicked off his White House campaign, dubbing himself a "compassionate conservative" and a "different kind of Republican." And the press corps went into a script-reading frenzy. Even major "liberal" columnists affirmed the governor’s pleasing slogans—and paid little attention to the actual actions he had authored in his home state.
This morning, President Bush rejected health care for children. Now it's time for Democrats to reject President Bush.
If we can get 2/3 of Congress to stand up to President Bush, we can overturn his veto on the State Children's Health Insurance Program -- a program that provides health insurance for millions of kids.
We need your help to get those votes.
We've set up a simple tool that will allow you to write a letter and send it to your members of Congress instantly. Send your Senators and Representative a message telling them to stand up to George Bush:
http://www.democrats.org/FightForKids
George Bush made a cold political calculation this morning. He could have signed this bi-partisan bill into law, or he could have pandered to conservatives who didn't want to see the Children's Health Insurance Program get the funding it needs.
He decided to pander -- and millions of kids will suffer for it.
What makes this veto worse is that George Bush will spend billions of dollars in Iraq, some of it on contractors like Blackwater and Halliburton, while denying millions of children needed doctors' visits or medicine here at home.
On top of that, all of the Republican candidates for president support his veto.
Democrats are in the majority for a reason. Send a message to your Senators and Representative and let them know why that is:
http://www.democrats.org/FightForKids
This past week, Graeme Frost, a 12 year old from Baltimore, Maryland, delivered this week's Democratic Radio Address.
Graeme is a brave young man. Three years ago, his family was in a serious car accident. Graeme was in a coma for a week, suffered severe brain trauma, and had to re-learn how to eat and walk.
Graeme is alive today because of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. As he said last weekend:
"My parents work really hard and always make sure my sister and I have everything we need, but the hospital bills were huge. We got the help we needed because we had health insurance for us through the CHIP program.
"I don't know why President Bush wants to stop kids who really need help from getting CHIP. All I know is I have some really good doctors. They took great care of me when I was sick, and I'm glad I could see them because of the Children's Health Program."
Families like the Frosts need your help. You can hear Graeme talk about his experience and send a message to your Senators and Representative right here:
http://www.democrats.org/FightForKids
As a doctor, I've seen our country's health care crisis first-hand.
I've seen parents that have to wait for their kids to get dangerously sick before they could take them to a doctor. I've seen parents struggle over important medical care decisions because they didn't know how to pay for it. And I've seen parents left in poverty because they had no other choice.
But you don't have to be a doctor to understand the importance of health insurance for our nation's kids. Just ask any mother or father whose child has been sick, and they'll all tell you the same thing: that there's nothing more important to them than making sure their kids are healthy.
As governor of Vermont, 96% of the children in my state had health insurance. That's the sort of commitment our country needs -- and the sort of commitment President Bush doesn't have.
The American people elected a Democratic majority last fall to stand up to President Bush's misguided priorities. Remind your Senators and Representative just what the American people stand for.
http://www.democrats.org/FightForKids
Sincerely,
Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_071002.htm
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
States Seek To Block Bush SCHIP Rules.
The Washington Post reports New Jersey officials "asked a federal judge yesterday to block new Bush administration rules that would make it harder for states to enroll middle-income kids in a popular government-subsidized health insurance program for children." Seven other states "promised to do the same if President Bush vetoes legislation that would renew and extend" SCHIP.
Most Americans Back SCHIP Expansion. On its front page, the Washington Post reports that a new Post-ABC News poll finds that President Bush and his party may be "headed for a political setback from the fight" over the State Children's Health Insurance Program. More than "seven in 10 support the planned $35 billion spending increase and 25 percent are opposed. About half of all Americans 'strongly' support the increased spending; 17 percent are firmly against the additional funds. Eighty-one percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 61 percent of Republicans are in favor."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,191395.shtml
"Given what we know about the connections between good health and an individual's success in school, in the workforce, and as a parent, it makes no economic sense to deprive low-income children of medical care when they need it or to consign them to the emergency room for illnesses that could have been prevented. As a matter of policy -- and morality -- this veto is an embarrassment to our nation."
The Conference is also calling on Congress to override the veto.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States Conference of Mayors, led by President and Trenton, NJ Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, today expressed shock and disbelief at President Bush's refusal to sign $35 billion for the State Children's Health Insurance Program known as SCHIP.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3685861&page=1
Over the past decade, SCHIP has reduced, by one-third, the number of uninsured children in low income households — a drop from 22 percent to 15 percent, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund.
But the veto means that the program's only hope is redemption by a Senate that has already shown only marginal support for the measure.
"This program has been very successful in terms of increasing insurance coverage and access for children," said Kathleen Adams, a professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. "There are 12 states which will not have enough funds to even maintain their current coverage without renewal and increased allotments.
"Unless these states use emergency funds, many children will be thrown off of insurance coverage, literally overnight."
And this is what many parents and experts are worried about.
"If the veto is sustained by Congress, more children will be uninsured than before; they will get less care, especially preventive care, and care for chronic childhood diseases, like asthma," said Sofaer. "The health and development of many low and moderate income children will be compromised, with serious consequences for their individual futures."
The SCHIP program is ten years old. At present, it provides insurance to 6.6 million low-income children. The program expires on September 30. Just to summarize Lee’s reporting, here are some basic facts:
It’s that senate proposal which Bush has rejected “on philosophical grounds.” For the record, the senate plan is authored by one Democrat and two Republicans. Max Baucus is the Dem; Charles Grassley and Orrin Hatch are the Reps.
This morning, we thought it might be worth recalling Bush’s history with the SCHIP program.
Back in April 1999, Lou Dubose penned a detailed report in The Nation on Bush, the GOP’s emerging presidential front-runner. And sure enough! In his own state of Texas, Bush had grappled with the (new) SCHIP program. Dubose spelled it out in this passage:
The federal government was paying three-fourths of the cost of the new SCHIP program—but Bush had fought to restrict its use. More specifically, he fought the Texas legislature and won, thereby “eliminating 200,000 children [from the program] in a state...second to Arizona in the percentage of uninsured children.”
Bush’s philosophical feelings already seemed to be running strong. But so what? As we noted, Dubose’s detailed report appeared in April 1999. Two months later, Bush kicked off his White House campaign, dubbing himself a “compassionate conservative” and a “different kind of Republican.” And the press corps went into a script-reading frenzy. Even major “liberal” columnists affirmed the governor’s pleasing slogans—and paid little attention to the actual actions he had authored in his home state.
The most laughable swooning occurred on Brian Williams’ eponymous MSNBC program. But this morning, Bush’s history with the SCHIP program is missing from Lee’s otherwise informative report. We don’t know how much attention this matter will receive in the weeks ahead. But Bush, a deeply philosophical man, has pondered these matters before.
synthetic environment http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/