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Maine’s children and their families are the losers if the Bush veto on SCHIP stands. Bush vetoed the bill, not because he was concerned about the cost--after all, our nation is spending twenty-eight times what SCHIP would have cost in Iraq yearly--but because he sees it as a step toward the “socialization” of medicine.
Bush and his backers argue that the bill would be a step toward federalization of health care, and that it would steer the program away from its core purpose of providing insurance for poor children and toward covering children from middle-class families.
Why’s that so terrible? In an era when 47 million Americans have no health care coverage, another 10 million have only the most catastrophic care coverage, and nine million children ... children! ... have no health care, is it really all that important to draw a line between the poor and the middle class?
In Maine, the cost of living is above the median income already. The cost of health care, for many middle income families, is simply out of reach. SCHIP, known as MaineCare in our state, was a means of closing the gap between income and need for many families, some of which, yes, were earning about $40,000 per year.
Currently, the program is functioning on life support until mid-November under a stop-gap funding measure. While the Senate will be able to override a veto, thanks to the courage of Republicans like our very own senators, the proposal may die in the House. But by November, we sincerely hope that Republicans in the House will look into their hearts (and speak to their constituents) and do the right thing for America’s children.
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