Bush Vetoes Our Children
Our ungenerous-to-a-fault president has, once again, told us where his priorities stand-he will authorize more spending for the war, but not for our children’s health. President Bush has-as promised-vetoed a bill which would have expanded the coverage of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program(SCHIP).
SCHIP is a joint state-federal program which subsidizes health coverage 6.6 million people, mostly children, whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford their own private insurance coverage. Democrats (and many Republicans) had passed the bill, which would add $35 billion over five years. This would have allowed four million additional children to be covered by the program. The expansion would have been funded by raising the federal tax on cigarettes to $1 per pack.
The president’s reasons for vetoing the bill were that it was too costly, took the program too far from its original intent of helping the poor, and would entice people to switch to government insurance coverage from private insurers. He argued that the plan would be a move toward socialized medicine, by expanding the program to higher-income families.
House Democratic leaders plan to try to override the veto. The Senate approved the bill with enough votes to override the veto, but the House will need some 15 more votes to get the required 2/3 majority they need to override Bush’s veto.
We should all hope and pray that the required number of votes will be attained. This is an extremely important program for our children and teens. Contact your Senators and Representatives to let them know that you support this bill. Let them know that we are tired of a president who favors war spending over the health of our children.
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teens, teenagers, children’s health, children’s health insurance, President Bush, State Children’s Health Insurance Program, SCHIP, parenting, parenting teens, parenting teenagers
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