SCHIP for Trust Fund Babies

Now, if you are the typical person, you have no idea what that means however you are very compassionate and you will support something that helps poor children get health insurance. Unfortunately, what you don't know, and what the MSM isn't reporting to you, is that because of this, the SCHIP program is fraught to be exploited by corruption.The practical effect is this. Without an asset test, anyone living off any passive income (annuity settlements, pension income, social security income, retirement savings, or even trust funds) are still eligible for SCHIP. That means that a trust fund baby who has no job and just lives off the exorbitent wealth of their parents is eligible for SCHIP in 46 out of 50 states. (H/T to Bizzy Blog)Look at this example,
Husband age 62, wife age 41, two children 2 and 7. The husband receives early social security payments, a mutual fund capital gain of $50,000 and ordinary dividends of $30,000. The wife works part time for about $29,000. Despite having a fairly large asset base and plenty of income, the only income counted by the California version of SCHIP is the wife's part time job. Since she receives no health insurance through work, this particular couple is eligible for S CHIP.Remember Graeme Frost, poster child for SCHIP, well he and his sister were able to both go to private school, his parents owned a home, a business, and the property on which the business was located, with at least one confirmed tenant. Somehow this family was able to qualify for S CHIP as well. Now, if anyone has ever seen the tax returns of any business owner, they know full well how easy it is to make a business owner's income wind up being less than $40K per year.Now, I said a little while back on these same pages that the only way for Republicans to win this debate is for them to scream corruption from every corner of the country vis a vis S CHIP. This is not the first time that politicians, of both parties, have held up victims in an effort to expand the size of government and every time that expansion leads to corruption. If business owners, homeowners and trust fund babies can already qualify for S CHIP, what do you think will happen if the program is increased exponentially.Unfortunately, so far, the Republicans have gotten comfortable letting the right blogosphere point out the massive corruption of the program and furthermore attack Frost, its new poster child
In California…it appears that there’s nothing stopping a trust fund baby, if their ONLY income comes from investment returns (i.e., it’s “unearned”), from qualifying for SCHIP! Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie could sit at home and stop boring us with their TV show, appearances, and commercials, have babies by any number of entourage members, and join in the SCHIP party. Is this a great country or what?...The Democrats chose to outsource their airtime to a Seventh Grader. If a political party is desperate enough to send a boy to do a man’s job, then the boy is fair game. As it is, the Dems do enough cynical and opportunist hiding behind biography and identity, and it’s incredibly tedious. And anytime I send my seven-year-old out to argue policy you’re welcome to clobber him, too. The alternative is a world in which genuine debate is ended and, as happened with Master Frost, politics dwindles down to professional staffers writing scripts to be mouthed by Equity moppets……So executive vice-presidents’ families are now the new new poor? I support lower taxes for the Frosts, increased child credits for the Frosts, an end to the “death tax” and other encroachments on transgenerational wealth transfer, and even severe catastrophic medical-emergency aid of one form or other. But there is no reason to put more and more middle-class families on the government teat, and doing so is deeply corrosive of liberty. And, if the Democrats don’t like me saying that, next time put up someone in long pants to make your caseI shouldn't be reading this on the pages of Michelle Malkin, but it needs to be coming out of the mouths of John Boehner, Trent Lott and Eric Cantor. The S CHIP program is already corrupt and full of loopholes, and what the Dems want to do is make it even bigger, which makes it even more corrupt. The new program makes it easier for illegal immigrants to receive free health care, it raises the income level all the way to $81,000 per year in some states, and it doesn't fix any of the holes already in it. This leads to CORRUPTION...CORRUPTION, CORRUPTION, CORRUPTION.If the Republicans are going to win this debate, that word must become a fabric of the debate. Graeme Frost must become a symbol of the corruption masquerading as compassion. He put himself out there when he responded to President Bush's radio address. His story must be told. Not just the story of his terrible accident, but the one in which he lives in a 3000 square foot house, goes to private school, while his dad owns a business, and still receives free health insurance on the government's dime. That is CORRUPTION. Say it, say it, and say it again, and don't stop saying it until everyone understands what the Democrats are doing.