Tell Us Why, Mr. Bush

Dick Meyer Detects An Aroma Of Hypocrisy In Dustup Over Funding Of Health Program For Children

(CBS)  This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.

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Having already proven its incompetence in foreign and fiscal affairs, and its arrogance toward the Constitution and the other branches of government, the Bush administration is now determined to show skeptics that it can also be absolutely hypocritical.

A very experienced colleague suggested to me the other day that President Bush is determined not to squander his historic unpopularity. He's going to use it to do whatever the hell he wants because he just doesn't seem to care much anymore.

That seems to be the case with the issue of providing health insurance for poor children.

You may have heard there is a scrap about this now in Congress, or rather, between Congress and the president.

Democrats and Republicans a decade ago managed to get their acts together long enough to enact a program called the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The idea was to get coverage for otherwise uninsured children in very low income families with earnings too high to qualify for Medicaid. Today, about 6.6 million children benefit from this program.

On September 30th, SCHIP will expire. So, once again, Democrats and Republicans need to do something that is really, really hard for them: take action. They need to renew the program.

President Bush is reluctantly willing to renew SCHIP with an increase of $5 billion over the next five years. That is probably not even enough to insure the children who already get benefits.

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee want to increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion over five years. House Democrats want a $50 billion boost. The bipartisan National Governors Association also wants an increase much larger than $5 billion, but doesn't want to get into a catfight.

Why won't the president go along with a real increase? Excellent question.

What he says is that a big increase would be the "beginning of the salvo of the encroachment of the federal government on the health care system."

Huh?

This is the president whose proudest domestic achievement was extending Medicare to cover prescription drugs, one of the biggest "encroachments of the federal government on the health care system" in American history. Honestly, it is mind-boggling that the president could say this.

And I might add that this is the president who engineered the largest federal invasion of public education in history.

But it gets worse. It also gets a little complicated, so stick with me for a second.

House Democrats want to fund an increase for SCHIP by reducing the federal subsidy for a program called Medicare Advantage that pays tax dollars to HMOs to give health insurance to seniors. It's an alternative to Medicare. The idea behind Medicare Advantage was that since large private bureaucracies are so much smarter than large public bureaucracies, it would be cheaper to pay HMOs to cover some seniors than doing it through Medicare.

Wrong.

The government now pays HMOs between 112 and 119 percent of what it costs to cover a person on Medicare. So if it costs the government $100 to cover Sadie Sickly of Illness, Ohio, the government will pay Selfless HMO Inc. $119 to take Mrs. Sickly off their hands. Selfless HMO Inc. – and lots of real life HMOs – make a boatload of money off Medicare Advantage because of this government subsidy.

The Congressional Budget Office thinks that 119 percent subsidy could be cut, and HMOs would still make money and patients would still get good services. So House Democrats want to reduce the government subsidy for HMOs to help pay for an increase in SCHIP funding. Pretty straightforward.

HMOs – surprise, surprise – do not want that Medicare Advantage subsidy to be cut. Neither does President Bush. He thinks the free market is so cool that it should be subsidized by the government.

You see, he doesn't want the government encroaching on the health care system, so he's going take your tax dollars and give them to HMOs so they can encroach on the health care system.

The Senate Finance Committee thinks an increase in SCHIP could be paid for by increasing the tax on cigarettes. The president doesn't like that, either. He's an anti-encroachment guy. Except for HMOs. And prescription drugs.

Snarky and cynical people think the president is simply doing the bidding of tobacco and HMOs. I have no way to know what his motivations are, but I don't think he's just kowtowing to special interests. I think it's more likely he just doesn't want to do something that Democrats and poor people think is important.

Or maybe he has new evidence that the children who qualify for SCHIP are trying to obtain Weapons of Mass Destruction. A source close to the administration told me that.

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Against the Grain. We will publish some of the interesting (and civil) ones, sometimes in edited form.

[sjc_1]

It is interesting that bozo is supposedly worried about creeping social health care and not at all concerned about the working poor that have NO health care for their kids. It shows you where his thinking is, if you could call it that and if you could ever believe a word this clown says anyway.

[lawandorder7]

alanrobisch2 you are half right, your so smart, which half

[bado1954]

What would you expect any different from George Walker Bush who I think is nothing but a coniving Sociopath and Liar, who isn't even qualified to flip hamburgers at MacDonalds. This idiot was just what the Neocons from the PNAC were looking for to further their agenda which has proven to be a disaster and that is Iraq.

George Walker Bush, members of the PNAC who include Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, Bichard Perle,William Kristol, Jebb Bush, Dan Quayle, Richard Cheney, John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld and the rest of the scumbags should all be hauled to the International Courts in the Hague, Netherlandsand be charged with War Crimes for their illegal War in Iraq. If they are convicted and sentenced to hang, hang them all as they are no better than the Nazi War Criminals that were hung at Nuremberg in 1946.

[alanrobisch]

That%u2019s 406 times as much as Bush is willing to spend on our poorest children%u2019s health.

Posted by jn122736 at 11:22 PM : Jul 27, 2007

What an ignorant remark Have you ever heard of medicaid? Most poor children are covered by it. Schips an extension upward for low income people. also note it costs money and I can only see that we are going to pay more taxes

[dgwooster]

This President is the best campaign ad the Dems could ever ask for. And he's available for comment 24/7. Doesn't that break some kind of election law or something?

[jn122736]

Posted by jimsjims at 12:16 AM : Jul 28, 2007:

Why do you not list at least one instance where HMO's provide better services than medicare?

It is too easy to make false statements and make them appear legitimate when you don%u2019t show the source for your claims

[jimsjims]

Get the facts straight. When you talk about Medicare Advantage, do your homework. Medicare Advantage Plans are more than just HMO plans. Yes there are HMO plans but there are also PPO and PFFS that are the biggest part of Medicare Advantage plans. These plans are part of the Medicare system administered by private Health Insurance companies. these companies do a better job at offering health care than what the Federal government does and these plans are better for most of our Seniors than what traditional Medicare is. As far as giving more to private companies goes. People on Medicare Advantage plans get more bennefits and in most cases have less OOP expenses. The President is doing a good service by standing behind Medicare Advantage Companies. If Congress really wants to do something to give in the children in need; they could give up the health package that they enjoy, be forced to have the same health bennefits that you and I have, and give the extra monies to the childrens healthcare fund. It is clear that the auther of this story is another leftwing nutjob without a clue. The real funny thing is that even tho Bush came up with Part D; Part C or medicare Advantage is a bipartican plan made into law during the Clinton administration.

[jn122736]

Correction:
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee want to increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion (that%u2019s only $7 billion per yea)r OVER FIVE YEARS. House Democrats want a $50 billion boost (that%u2019s only 10 billion per year).%u201D

[jn122736]

To all those who continue to criticize people struggling to survive on minimum wage jobs by sarcastically suggesting they are too lazy to get further educated to obtain higher paying jobs:

I ask you this; If every working citizen of the united states by whatever means magically obtained education and/or training to do any job in America would there be enough high paying jobs available to them or would basically the same number of them still have to settle for the minimum wage jobs they now have?


From article:
%u201CPresident Bush is reluctantly willing to renew SCHIP with an increase of $5 billion (that%u2019s only $1 billion per year) over the NEXT FIVE YEARS. That is probably not even enough to insure the children who already get benefits.

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee want to increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion (that%u2019s only $3.5 billion per yea)r OVER FIVE YEARS. House Democrats want a $50 billion boost (that%u2019s only 5 billion per year).%u201D

To all (including congress and the president) who think we shouldn%u2019t spend money on healthcare for poor children:

We spent $406 billion in fiscal year 2006 in interest on the national debt(that amount is increasing every year) and nobody ever gives it a thought as a matter fact most people probably aren%u2019t even aware of it.

That%u2019s 406 times as much as Bush is willing to spend on our poorest children%u2019s health.

[alanrobisch]

A FEW BLOGGERS CALL MR. MEYER HYPROCRITE, THE PROBLEM WITH US AMERICANS WE DON,T KNOW BETTER. IF SOMEBODY TELL US, LOOKS, IN EUROPE HEALTH CARE IS SO AND SO , BETTER THAN HERE, THE ANSWER WILL BE : WHY DON,T YOU GO LO LIVE OVER THERE ? WE HAVE TO LEARN HOW OTHERS COUNTRIES CAN DO WITH LESS MONEY WHAT WE CAN,T WITH BILLIONS.
Posted by huanaco at 04:57 PM : Jul 27, 2007

this simply isn't true taxation in canaDA is over half of a person's income. they have national health insurance and have an army disproportionately samller than ours and if you want surgery it might take you a year or two to get it if it isn't emergency surgery. In England the govt decides what health care is provided and in one case I am familiar with where an elderly women broke her hip. they did nothing to repair it due to her age.

[alanrobisch]

Yep, let's make sure abortion is made illegal so we produce tons of children whose health we don't want to do anything about.

yup killing innocent children is so much better

[huanaco]

A FEW BLOGGERS CALL MR. MEYER HYPROCRITE, THE PROBLEM WITH US AMERICANS WE DON,T KNOW BETTER. IF SOMEBODY TELL US, LOOKS, IN EUROPE HEALTH CARE IS SO AND SO , BETTER THAN HERE, THE ANSWER WILL BE : WHY DON,T YOU GO LO LIVE OVER THERE ? WE HAVE TO LEARN HOW OTHERS COUNTRIES CAN DO WITH LESS MONEY WHAT WE CAN,T WITH BILLIONS.

[fizzal-2009]

spending money on treatments and prevention and getting children too walk for their health would do more for children than paying to insure them. Better yet get up and be at work before *** in the morning don,t pass your costs on me.

[tibu987]

A trillion dollars to pay for killing in Iraq. The loss of young American lives, the innocent men, women, and children of Iraq who have been killed, their country in ruins.
Just a fraction of a trillion dollars would pay for low income children in the U.S. to have medical insurance.
Go figure.

[drinuk]

NavyRetired2, You are absolutely correct in all you state, however whilst you have families like the Rockefellers and Bush's calling the tune and raping the nation you have very little chance of changing the current Status Quo. They control the money, the media and the health of the nation. They advocate population control and make every decision in our lives. It is going to take more than a million folks to unlock the shackles but it can and will happen. The very fact that Bush has been a disaster has made more people aware that both political parties are simply self interest groups oblivious to the constitution. The people must take it back, it belongs to them and providing it is achieved by peaceful means and not by trying to emulate the villains then it will happen. A march of no less than 5 million maybe a good start.

[uswarrior]

Thank you willylou11 for your service to our country. Working in trades & securities helps keep our Nation strong and prosperous. Thank you for doing the hard work necessary to get where you are. Thank you for taking it upon yourself to better yourself and for making yourself a positive member of society. Thank you for not blaming someone or something else for a situation you are in and for taking responsibility for yourself to do something about it. You are an example to others.

[vet_sk]

Why do our government workers (that's me) get health care and the people where I get my services from do not. They're paying for my health care in taxes yet they don't get it.

Heck, let them pay what I pay every month for health care and I bet they would buy it: $178.67. Oh you say, that different, well it is disgusting that people in this country can't get it yet we go to an illegal war in Iraq based on false pretenses and are spending 4 times what it would cost to give everyone health care. I don't get it.

I think the reason you say that is because you really don't know. You just listen to FoxNews and Rush and assume that's the way it is. In reality they are being funded by insurance companies who know that as soon as everyone has health care people will begin to figure our, wha the point of paying these huge overheads for Administration of finances.

[willylou11]

If you are toiling away for minimum wage in a job that doesn't provide health care, willylou11, get up off the couch, turn-off the TV, go to school, learn a valuable, marketable skill of your choice, and you'll get a job that pays well and provides health care. Or join the Army like I did. Our Nation needs you to do that.
Posted by USWarrior,

I did get off the couch, when i got out of high school, and at the age of 18 I enlisted in the United States Army and reported to basic training at E Co. 2nd Div, 19th Btln Ft. Benning Ga. Six months later I was discharged on a medical and back at square one. As far as going back to school, I would love to. But i simply do not have the funds, and with raising a family, I do not have the time. Now when i said minimum wage, I was not personally referring to myself, as I worked in factories, and construction, and then pushed myself and obtained employment with a firm that works in trades and securities in a entry level position, and i make a little better than min. wage. But there are some people who do not have ability to go out and do that. People who are unable to go out and re-educate themselves, or to switch careers. And from things I have personally seen, if you don't make a lot of money to dress the part, some jobs will turn you down based on appearance, even if you are the most qualified person for the job.

[duhrer]

Yep, let's make sure abortion is made illegal so we produce tons of children whose health we don't want to do anything about.

[tejasdemo]

*** Meyer, why is it Government's responsibility to pay for people's health care?

I am not sure what Mr. Meyer's response would be but here's mine.

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The government has a responsibility to protect its people. This goes beyond the simpleton view of war ,but also, and most importantly, of protecting those who are incapable of protecting themselves from such things as bad health. They need shots etc etc. These things cost money. Are you telling children to go get jobs and then pay for it themselves ? Or, are you just trying to kick the parents by punishing their kids ?

And, as for your views on shy should the govt pay for........etc..

Why should the govt subsidize business at all ? If they fail, they fail. Why should the govt provide tax abatements to get started ? Let them build their business the same way you feel an individual should be build their life.