Bush to Veto SCHIP Again Today

Let’s not forget that Republicans won’t vote to override his veto, so this is their failure, too. House and Senate Republicans need to stand up for health care for our kids.

Democrats keep passing this pile of garbage of a bill knowing that Bush will veto it. If Democrats really cared about funding SCHIP, they would get a version of the bill to the President that he could sign. It is obvious they care more about playing politics than funding SCHIP.

Adam, isn’t the point of increasing the cigarette tax to discourge smoking? Doesn’t the left want to ban smoking in all public places? How can you pay for healthcare with cigarette taxes if your stated goal is to prevent people from smoking?

The only logical reason for wanting to do this is so you can control peoples behavior and then, after there is a shortfall of revenue, you raise taxes on everyone in the state to pay for your new entitlement scam.

Why don’t we have an optional tax. If you believe everyone should have affordable health insurance plans for the children, you check yes at the end of the year and everyone who does so gets to pay their share and begin the new year with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Sorry, anglico, but health insurance is a private industry whereas national defense is a public good. Apples and oranges, my friend.

Whoa there partner. Your magic lines about public good and private industry are mighty darn arbitrary.

We’ve shown we can outsource our army and fuel the growth of defense contractors with taxpayer dollars . . . why not go ahead and declare war the private industry it already is? Besides, what’s going on in Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with national defense in any practical sense of the word.

It’s clear we disagree – fair enough – so it’s only appropriate for us to have the option of paying taxes or not based on our own values and views.

The 1998 ftawa was more expansive than you would have us believe. Hostility towards the US preceded Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iraq and Bin Laden cared little for the secular Iraqi government even though he shared its contempt for Shiites. Bin Laden’s crocodile tears for Iraqis are poor justification. By that logic we should have been in Sudan years ago. Stick with WMD. It’s more plausible.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan the world’s primary source of heroin (and a great source of terrorism funding) continues unabated and Bin Laden yodels in Pasthun.

You keep talking about “forcing everyone in the country onto government mandated healthcare programs”. That’s not true. You can still have your private insurance. Most people here are talking about the government making insurance coverage available to everyone. It will probably be private insurance. Government has a legitimate role in seeing that coverage is available to everyone.

Al Qaeda disbanded after the war in Afghanistan with the Soviet Union. It was after the Gulf War in 1991 that Bin Laden reconstituted Al Qaeda. Yes, Islamists hated the US before 1991. We all know that. But it wasn’t until after 1991 that they started to attack the US… beginning in 1993 with the 1st WTC bombing. Al Qaeda reformed because of US military presence in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations. This presence existed for one purpose… to contain the Baathist regime.

So Hillary, Edwards and the other’s plans for healthcare “reform” will not require people to have health coverage? That sounds like “government mandated healthcare programs” to me.

I strongly disagree with your statementthat “Government has a legitimate role in seeing that coverage is available to everyone.” If you are making the claim that the government should make sure that insurers do not discriminate based on age, gender, race, etc., then okay, that is legitimate. If you are suggesting that the government has the legitimate power to force me to spend my income on a private good or service that I do not need in order to make that good or service less expensive to you, then that is patently absurd.

The government doesn’t mandate that I buy water from private companies so that your water will be less expensive…

You’re fighting your own shadow.

If you want to understand what I base my beliefs on then ask me about that.

You are asking me to explain something I have not specifically advocated. You seem to be itching for a fight with someone over your own fears.

Instead of asking me to explain your own specific fears why don’t you state them with respect to some specific plan that is generating them?

Government requires that water be available in all occupied buildings. Government doesn’t have to provide the water though it often does. You’re not forced to buy it or even use it.

The following text comes from NC General Statutes Chapter 130A, Public Health:

§ 130A-1.1. Mission and essential services.

(a) The General Assembly recognizes that unified purpose and direction of the public health system is necessary to ensure that all citizens in the State have equal access to essential public health services. The General Assembly declares that the mission of the public health system is to promote and contribute to the highest level of health possible for the people of North Carolina by:

(1) Preventing health risks and disease;
(2) Identifying and reducing health risks in the community;
(3) Detecting, investigating, and preventing the spread of disease;
(4) Promoting healthy lifestyles;
(5) Promoting a safe and healthful environment;
(6) Promoting the availability and accessibility of quality health care services through the private sector; and
(7) Providing quality health care services when not otherwise available.

(b) As used in this section, the term “essential public health services” means those services that the State shall ensure because they are essential to promoting and contributing to the highest level of health possible for the citizens of North Carolina. The Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Health and Human Services shall attempt to ensure within the resources available to them that the following essential public health services are available and accessible to all citizens of the State, and shall account for the financing of these services:

(1) Health Support:
a. Assessment of health status, health needs, and environmental risks to health;
b. Patient and community education;
c. Public health laboratory;
d. Registration of vital events;

(2) Environmental Health:
a. Lodging and institutional sanitation;
b. On-site domestic sewage disposal;
c. Water and food safety and sanitation; and

(3) Personal Health:
a. Child health;
b. Chronic disease control;
c. Communicable disease control;
d. Dental public health;
e. Family planning;
f. Health promotion and risk reduction;
g. Maternal health.

The Commission for Health Services shall determine specific services to be provided under each of the essential public health services categories listed above.

(c) The General Assembly recognizes that there are health-related services currently provided by State and local government and the private sector that are important to maintaining a healthy social and ecological environment but that are not included on the list of essential public health services required under this section. Omission of these services from the list of essential public health services shall not be construed as an intent to prohibit or decrease their availability. Rather, such omission means only that the omitted services may be more appropriately assured by government agencies or private entities other than the public health system.

Health care is not a commodity. Attending to individuals with limited access to health care does not diminish the rights of others.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has some good information on Health Coverage & the Uninsured if you wish to explore it further. You can even compare candidates health care proposals.

Employer based health insurance is a product of government tax breaks. Rising treatment and drug costs are causing employers to drop health insurance benefits and insurers to drop coverage. It may not be there when you get that job or think you need it.

An increasing number of working people are not making enough to pay for health insurance (but making too much to qualify for Medicaid. (Medicare is for 65 and over and some disabled people). Poor people don’t necessarily qualify for Medicaid either and others may qualify only after they have incurred excessive medical expenses ie are sick and then become poor because of it.

Employer based health insurance can be good until you switch employers or the plan morphs. Your medical and pharmacy claim history becomes a basis for exclusion. Private insurers spend a lot of money making sure they don’t pay your bills. With a universal default system all the costs associated with the marketing and mark-down machinery are eliminated. Medicare is a good model with less overhead than private industry.

I love how everyone is always about penalizing the smokers and always using them as a fall back….you non smokers would more than find it a problem if we taxed your alcohol or your fast food…just because we smoke doesn’t mean we deserve to be singled out and taxed…