The Politics of SCHIP

Republicans everywhere must start to face reality while vetoing SCHIP in its current form maybe good policy it makes for bad really bad politics. Last Saturday, Graeme Frost, 12, gave the Democratic response to the President's radio address...

Hi, my name is Graeme Frost. I'm 12 years old and I live in Baltimore, Maryland. Most kids my age probably haven't heard of CHIP, the Children's HealthInsurance Program. But I know all about it, because if it weren't for CHIP, Imight not be here today."CHIP is a law the government made to help families like mine afford healthcare for their kids. Three years ago, my family was in a really bad car accident. My younger sister Gemma and I were both hurt. I was in a coma for a week and couldn't eat or stand up or even talk at first.

My sister was even worse. I was in the hospital for five-and-a-half months and I needed a big surgery. For a long time after that, I had to go to physical therapy after school to get stronger. But even though I was hurt badly, I was really lucky. My sister and I both were."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 forus through the CHIP program."But there are millions of kids out there who don't have CHIP, and they wouldn't get the care that my sister and I did if they got hurt. Their parents might have to sell their cars or their houses, orthey might not be able to pay for hospital bills at all."Now I'm back to school. One of my vocal chords is paralyzed so I don't talk the same way Iused to. And I can't walk or run as fast as I did.

The doctors say I can't play football any more, but I might still be able to be a coach. I'm just happy to be back with my friends."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."I just hope the President will listen to my story and help other kids to be as lucky as me. Thisis Graeme Frost, and this has been the Weekly Democratic Radio address. Thanks for listening."

Meanwhile, the Republicans were countering the sobering stats and concepts.http://www.redstate.com/blogs/congressman_bill_shuster/2007/oct/05/the_truth_about_schip

First, the Democrat’s SCHIP bill extends benefits to illegal immigrants by lifting the requirement demanding program applicants prove their citizen shipstatus. Second, the Democrat’s bill significantly expands SCHIP at taxpayer expense, inflating the cost from $35 billion to $110 billion. To pay for such a massive expansion, the Democrats will raise tobacco taxes on cigarette packs by$0.61 to $1, and taxes on cigars up to $3. Tobacco taxes are an extremelyunstable and inadequate source of revenue for such a large program. In fact, itis estimated that 22 million people will need to take up smoking over the nextfive years to fund SCHIP at the levels passed in their bill.

Democrats argue that their plan will insure 5.8 million more children. They fail to mention that of those children 2 million, or 35 percent, would have otherwise been covered by private insurance. SCHIP was never designed for this. Instead of covering children whose parent’s incomes are at or below the poverty level, theDemocrat’s plan expands the program far past its boundaries to families in excess of 300 percent above the poverty line who could make as much as $80,000 ayear.

Gee, raw numbers and sobering statistics and logic versus a twelve year old...gee I wonder which side has the edge politically. Here are the latest raw numbers according to Rasmussen...

Sixty-five percent (65%) of American voters know that President Bush vetoeda bill expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. A RasmussenReports national telephone survey found that 8% mistakenly thought the Presidentsigned the bill while the rest were not sure.Of those who knew of the veto, 57% disapproved and 31% supported thePresident’s action. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Republicans approve of thePresident’s decision while 88% of Democrats disapprove.

Among those not affiliated with either major party, 33% agree with the President and 50% do not.

Among all voters, 70% say it is Very Important to insure that all children under 18 have health insurance. This figure includes 83% of Democrats, 71% of unaffiliateds, and 54% of Republicans. Another 18% of all voters say it Somewhat Important to provide health insurance for all children.By a 54% to 35% margin, voters believe it is fair to raise cigarette taxesto cover the cost of expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.Sixty-two percent (62%) of Democrats believe this approach is fair along with51% of unaffiliated voters and 49% of Republicans.

For anyone that supports the Republican party, those are the sobering numbers. Still, most Republicans and their supporters continue to have their heads in the sand. Here is how one blogger thought we should approach the issue... http://theclayempire.com/blog/2007/10/05/cigar-tax-alert/#more-323

This legislation carries an especially punitive tax on handmade cigars - a tax that will unequivocally cause the cigar industry to atrophy. Don’tmisunderstand, this isn’t about just paying a little more for cigars and showinga little compassion. With the stroke of a pen, if the House successfullyoverrides the veto, this legislation will wipe out many retailers anddistributors, put in jeopardy thousands of American jobs and literally hundredsof thousands more in Central America. This legislation is the opposite ofcompassion, and punitive taxation without representation like this is tyrannical.

This federal cigar tax is the single biggest threat the tiny cigar industry has ever faced and time is of the essence. Cigar enthusiasts of allpolitical stripes - and clear-thinking people everywhere - need to band togetherright now to sustain the President’s veto.

Pressure your House Representative to sustain the veto - the House vote is expected to be extremely tight and the threat of overriding the President’s
veto is very real.Click here to take action - urge your Congressmen to sustain the veto -the House vote is expected to be extremely tight and the threat of overriding the President’s veto is very real.

Well, with all due respect to this blogger, do they really think that most people are going to side with cigar manufacturers over little kids.If the Republicans have any hope of turning this into anything but a hopeless loser politically then they must be able to turn the same base raw emotions that the Democrats have been using against them.Thus, without further adieu, here is my advertisement in support of SCHIP veto.

(Imagine a manly voice over)

Everytime politicians, Democrat and Republicans, want to increase the size and scope of government, they trot out a group of victims, a group that the public at large can't say no to.

1929, when supply of crops was at unreasonably high levels causing the price of crops to tumble, President Hoover established the Federal Farm Board which bought crops from farmers in order to take those crops off the open market. What started as a 500 million dollar program is estimated to cost you the taxpayers 171 billion dollars in 2012.

1973, with many of our wildlife going extinct, President Nixon and the Democratic Congress, created the Endangered Species Act. What was meant as a way to protect endangered species has turned into one of the most powerful government programs. In fact, The government can take away citizens' property rights, prohibiting certain uses and any development if a property is designated "critical habitat."ESA is "called by many the single most powerful law ever passed," by conservative environmental expert R.J. Smith.The ESA program received $136.9 million for listing species, studies, and the like in 2004. However, a Fish & Wildlife spokeswoman estimated an additional $51.6 million would be spent in 2004 on enforcement. In 1997, Fish & Wildlife estimated, federal and state governments spent $301 million on "certain expenditures" related to endangered species, but no one has been able to estimate ESA's cost to the economy and personal liberty.

In 1972, President Nixon and the same Democratic Congress wanted to make sure that no one was discriminated based on sex in programs at schools that receive any federal funding and Title IX was born. The law says that if the student body of a college or university is 40% female, then 40% of its student-athletes should be female. The law is also interpreted as requiring equivalent facilities for male and female athletics. The practical result has been the wholesale elimination of many men's sports programs at many colleges.federal Title IX spending was be $88.3 million 2004. Schools will spend unknown additional millions seeking to comply, or dealing with Title IX lawsuits. Unknown numbers of athletes will not be able to play the sport of their choice.

Finally, after the market crash 1929 took the life savings of many retirees, President Roosevelt and the Democratic congress created a retirement savings plan known as Social Security. It was billed as programthat would provide for seniors who could not independently sustain themselves financially. The government imposes a 12.4% Social Security tax on the first $87,900 earned by every American. The worker pays half, 6.2% and the employer pays the other half. In return for these taxes, the government promises the taxpayer modest monthly payments when they reach retirement age 67.In 2003, the Social Security Administration spent $509.4 billion, including $9 billion on administrative expenses and the unfunded liability of this program is estimated to be $10.5 trillion.

Now, Congress wants to expand SCHIP, a program that provides free health insurance to kids who can't afford it. The Democrats argue that their plan will insure 5.8 million more children. They fail to mention that of those children 2 million, or 35 percent, would have otherwise been covered by private insurance. Futhermore, SCHIP bill extends benefits to illegal immigrants by lifting the requirement demanding program applicants prove their citizenship status. Second, the Democrat’s bill significantly expands SCHIP at taxpayer expense, inflating the cost from $35 billion to $110 billion.

To pay for such a massive expansion, the Democrats will raise tobacco taxes on cigarette packs by $0.61 to $1, and taxes on cigars up to $3. Tobacco taxes are an extremely unstable and inadequate source of revenue for such a large program. In fact, it is estimated that 22 million people will need to take up smoking over the next five years to fund SCHIP at the levels passed in their bill.Finally, this bill threatens the thousands of cigar manufacturers all over the country that won't be able to afford to stay in business with the new sin tax.

Ronald Reagan once said "the nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'". The new expansion of SCHIP is exactly what he was talking about. Please stand with the Republicans in re authorizing SCHIP in its current format. Don't let the Democratic Congress increase the size, scope and ultimately corruption of government by appealing to your kindest emotion.

(Please note most stats came from this left wing web site http://www.pushhamburger.com/ten_worst.htmPolitics does make for strange bedfellows)All right, that is the advertisement. Let me know if you like it and how it can be approved.