CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
Jan. 27, 2009 – 1:22 p.m.
GOP Leader Calls SCHIP Bill a ‘Troubling Precedent’
Senate Republicans have ditched last year’s cooperative tone on an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, accusing Democrats of abandoning bipartisan agreements and threatening to oppose the bill.
“Our Democratic colleagues have gone back on many of the prior agreements that were reached in creating that bill last year, making this issue more contentious than it ought to be and setting a troubling precedent for future discussions on health care reform,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., said Tuesday.
Democrats’ SCHIP bill would expand the program by $32.8 billion over four and a half years, providing coverage for some 4 million previously uninsured children, they say.
But the new bill also includes several changes to agreements that Democrats and Republicans hammered out in 2007. Senate Republicans Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who split with most in their party to support legislation that was twice vetoed by President George W. Bush , protested the changes.
“I’m bitterly disappointed,” said Hatch, adding he wished Democrats had brought back the old legislation. “It represented a compromise, and laid the foundation for bipartisanship and trust,” he said. “The bill being considered this week is not that bill.”
Democrats said the changes they made were needed, and reasonable. They include eliminating a five-year waiting period for new, legal immigrant children and mothers to enroll in the program, slightly loosening identity requirements, and in some cases loosening family income limits on eligibility for SCHIP coverage.
Hatch said that unless Democrats compromised on those sections, he would not vote for the current bill.
Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., said that the economic crisis and accompanying loss of jobs and rise in the uninsured necessitated the changes. “The issue that was before us many years ago when we created this children’s health insurance program has become gravely worse,” Durbin said.
Comments
Why is this plan in trouble? If you google OASDI (the new name for Social Security) you will see they have been using this money for years to pay for this plan.
I cannot imagine how the Republicans justify a vote against expanding health care for children; have they no compassion and concern for the future wellbeing of our people? Do they not feel a responsibility for them? What in the world are they thinking?
RECORD OPPORTUNITY In the past it's been difficult for the uninsured, especially children, to receive quality ongoing and follow-up healthcare because there was no previous record of their condition or treatments. Valuable time was wasted gathering basic information, and in some cases essential health histories have been lost. The lack of continuity in treating the uninsured is one of the big problems facing our health system. The proposed SCHIP extension will potentially insure 4 million children, making portable electronic health records more important than ever. More discussion: www.healthcaretownhall.com
I'm a republican and feel no responsibility to other people's children AT ALL. Judith, did you even glance at the bill. We are insuring more than children in this bill. We all have to make sacrafices. Isn't that what your President says we have to do. Call me crazy, but if you can afford to pay for a cell phone, cable, nails done and getting your hair colored, then you can afford healthcare. I spent 2 years without cable, internet and getting my nails done just for that reason. Its all about people's greedy priorities in life.
To the post above, not having a cell phone or other non-essential items that you've listed will not cover your child, if he or she came down with some disabling illness, accident or God forbid, the "C" word. We need to do something health care reform! About the uninsured. Illnesses & diseases that can be preventable, can be caught earlier and early detection means cure in many cases, which means less long term hospitalizations. Those who are insured can stay in their program, if they chose, but have options if they lose their jobs, become disabled and lose their insurance, or the insurance companies won't cover them due to some pre existing condition or those who get kick out of a plan for various reasons. As it is now, insurance companies will try anything to find a reason to kick you out, when you're costing them too much, because of major life threatening illnesses. This leaves many individuals filing for bankruptcy and then who is left to pick up the tab...bingo! The the tax payer's. We are paying more in taxes having to cover the uninsured, because many individuals don't get early treatment, because they can't afford it and by the time they wind up in our ER's, it's a major financial catastrophe for everyone. Even with having 80% coverage, patients, families are at risk of loosing everything, while having to suffer, and watch their loved ones suffer. Malpractice insurance for physcians is outrageous and ambulance chasers are driving our most brilliant away. Something needs to be done here! Insurance companies are making medical decisions and they don't even have medical degrees! We need to put the athourity back in the hands of the physcians! Phamacutical companies need to quit giving perks for doctors to use one medication over another and we depend on the ethics of the medical field to maintain it's integrity, perscribe only when neccessary and for the best of the patient. We need to allow more for caregiver's who take the responsibility of their loved ones and bring them home, but instead, it's easier and more economical for families not to. It doesn't make any fiscal sense, with the cost of a bed in a nursing home & full time staff and it's just heartbreakingly sad for the patient who wants to come home and the family who is willing to be there to have it cost more-- not less to bring them home. Health care reform is a must and will lessen the burden on our economy! There should not be "caps" placed on anyone who is progressing, or who still has brain function, especially those who have worked hard all their lives and paid into a system that in the end fails them. It isn't right that in this country, with the best medical care available, these things ARE happening. This isn't about "socialized" medicine, it's about health care reform, which is a serious issue. Health care is not only affecting those who are uninsured, it's affecting even those who are well insured and it's costing our economy and all of us, much more.
Go ahead make my day as Reagan the great Bullsh---er said! This is one of the very reasons why the Republicans were defeated in February and they still haven't learned. Americans want their children covered with health insurance until a better plan can be worked out. They weren't fiscally responsible during the Bush years and didn't mind borrowing and spending fortunes on their wars and agenda and now they want to appear fiscally responsible? I think not and so do many other Americans.
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