SCHIP and the states (0.00 / 0)

In order for our state based health care reform to work we need SCHIP fully funded.  The plans under consideration for health care reform in California are dependent on SCHIP funding to be able to make the numbers work.  Bush thwarting that will throw a big wrench into what we are trying to do.  As this battle progresses, don't be too surprised to see Arnold take the lead in lobbying for its passage.

---

by: Julia Rosen @ Mon Jul 23, 2007 at 16:54:41 PM UTC

Bush Has A Long History Fighting SCHIP (0.00 / 0)

As The Daily Howler reminds us, quoting from  this 1999 Nation article by Lou Dubose, which opens up a whole new level of irony to Bush's theft of the Children's Defense Fund Slogan "No Child Left Behind":

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 programâ??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. (For one tragicomic example, see THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/17/99). 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.

Unfortunately, I can find no record of it online, but there's an additional point I'd like to make about the 2000 campaign that I remember quite distinctly.

Not only did Bush fight against increased SCHIP coverage, but once it was passed, he dragged his feet in implementing it. The Gore campaign did put out some press releases on Bush's record of fighting SCHIP, but the media mostly ignored it. A jarring exception occured on one occassion when a reporter (a woman, IIRC) asked him about his failure to cover the extra children who were eligible.

Bush responded like hardcore narcissist he is by taking offense at the question, and saying (paraphrase from memory) "No one can tell what's in my heart."

Of course, the reporter hadn't asked about his feelings.  She asked about what he did. But, amazingly, that was his answer, and the rest of the press didn't even blink.  They just asked the next question about nicknames or whatever.

Your press corpse at work.

Just one follow-up question, and it could have been enough to put Florida out of stealing range.  Folks in Florida, they care about health care.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

---

by: Paul Rosenberg @ Mon Jul 23, 2007 at 17:59:19 PM UTC

Sen. Menendez on SCHIP last week (0.00 / 0)

---

by: JRB @ Mon Jul 23, 2007 at 18:49:25 PM UTC