Recommendations On SCHIP

Gracie Marie-Turner writes some common-sense suggestions on the impending SCHIP showdown that should be given some thought.

There are various versions of the program (House, Senate, White House), but all would be a large expansion of government. Given the political impasse likely to ensue in the House, where the bill passed with a very slim (NOT veto-proof) majority, Marie-Turner gives the following suggestions:

- Focus on the children who need it: states should be incented to find and enroll the truly low-income children.
- Avoid crowd out: at least one child would lose private insurance for every two new children enrolled in SCHIP if the program was expanded to 400% of the poverty level; this would be bad
- Give more flexibility to states: enact SCHIP subsidies that allow families to enroll their children to employers' plans (if they're better) rather than SCHIP
- Avoid new taxes: cap SCHIP eligibility at 200% of poverty level, and re-shuffle the funding rather than raising taxes
- Correct the funding formulas: incent states to enroll low-income children rather than high-income children
- Cap SCHIP: don't create another open-ended entitlement
- Treat all states alike: currently, several states have adults enrolled, and several more have enrolled people 300%+ of the poverty level; all states need to be treated alike
- Maintain discipline: Congress has bailed out states that have mismanaged allocated funds; don't allow that to continue
- Focus on SCHIP: remember the intent of the program and don't stray from it

These are limitations I could live with. As written right now, the bill is a horrendous tax increase and government entitlement, the first step toward universal health care. All over the world, universal health care is a disaster - excessive wait times for procedures, lack of available bed space, and massive taxes to pay for the "free" health care.

Speaking of which, John Edwards has proposed mandatory doctor visits for all Americans. It would cost $120 billion a year and would be paid for by tax increases (i.e. by YOU).

My question is: what happens to people who don't attend their mandatory doctor visits? Will they be fined? Sent to prison?

The idea behind this proposal has a lot less to do with ensuring health care for everyone than with exerting control over as many people as possible. This is the kind of thinking that prompted the massive expansion of SCHIP in the first place. This legislation will be coming back up soon, so contact your reps (especially the White House and the House of Reps) right away to tell them to dump it.

There's my two cents.