Health of nation’s children should transcend political posturing
In an increasingly complex world, contradictions don’t raise an eyebrow, but one in particular makes my brain ache for wanting to understand it.
President Bush drains the treasury to finance the war in Iraq, chase Osama in Afghanistan and rattle a saber at Iran, but on health insurance for children, he is parsimonious with a capital P.
The future of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known by its acronym, SCHIP, is up in the air, courtesy of a second presidential veto of an expansion. The president’s problem with Congress’ efforts to insure 10 million children without health-care coverage is that it grows the federal government and raises taxes on cigarettes. The horror!
The hypocrisy. Tobacco taxes have long been a smart way to raise funds for health-care needs as well as take a stand against a costly health scourge, smoking. Plus, taxing cigarettes to pay for a $35 billion five-year expansion of SCHIP avoids deficit spending. Federal government growing out of control? Let’s not blame domestic spending; let’s also take a look at the foreign side of the cost sheet.
These are the days of a leaner, meaner aristocracy.
Our president took office seven years ago with a federal budget surplus. He’ll leave the White House - not a moment too soon - trailed by a line of red ink. A lot went into building that deficit, but making sure every child who needs to see a dentist or have an eye exam can do so, wasn’t part of it.
Yet, a great deal of our domestic spending will be impacted by how well or poorly we treat children. Letting children go to school hungry means they’ll do less-well academically and end up costing more to teach. If we let them drop out of school, their chances of ending up in jail or on welfare rise, as do taxpayer costs for those programs.
It is time the folks running for our nation’s highest office caught on. Time we all got past red and blue and got to a clean bill of health. Enough arguing over whether John Edwards is too handsome, Barack Obama too young or Hillary Clinton too bitchy. Let’s debate instead the economic stupidity of waiting until children are sick to offer them medical care.
Why is this so complicated?
Estimates are, 73,000 children in Washington state lack health coverage. Children from the poorest families are eligible for Medicaid but those clinging to the next rung on this unholy ladder are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. SCHIP provides coverage for some of these children. The line is drawn at 300 percent of the poverty level or an annual income of $62,000 a year for a family of four.
However, Gov. Christine Gregoire and the state Legislature have agreed to insure by 2010 all children who need it. Insurance would pay for regular checkups, dental coverage and eye care. It would decrease costly emergency-room visits, free up schools from medical triage and encourage economic efficiency by treating medical problems before they grow deadly and expensive.
Will some families game the system, eschewing expensive private health insurance for the government-sponsored plan? A few will. But the vast majority will be working families without employer-sponsored health insurance and unable to afford going it alone in the insurance market. Some cannot afford hundreds of dollars in monthly premium costs; others have children with special needs and require solid insurance plans. Out-of-pocket medical costs can bankrupt a family and, in the end, the cost comes back to the taxpayers. Better for a smart solution up front.
There are ways to keep government programs from turning into lifelong entitlements. Such safeguards are in place for SCHIP.
Congress’ SCHIP plan was not open to illegal immigrants or adults without children. A provision required regular monitoring to ensure families weren’t moving from private insurance to state rolls.
In return, more than 10 million American children would get regular checkups, plus dental and mental-health-care services.
In the end, it just wasn’t lean, or mean, enough for our president.
An extension will fund the program until mid-December. Congressional votes for extensions require little courage and lawmakers can point to them as examples of “compassion.” The Republicans in Congress who remain in lockstep with Bush are just cowardly enough to ensure SCHIP stays alive via extensions until next year, right up until after the presidential election.
Lynne K. Varner’s column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is lvarner@seattletimes.com for a podcast Q&A with the author, go to Opinion at seattletimes.com