SCHIP Prediction

The Democrats are probably not that upset that SCHIP got vetoed. Rush Limbaugh explained on his program today, so allow me to paraphrase.

Anyone voting against SCHIP will -- not may, but WILL -- be portrayed in the coming months on TV commercials and other campaign ads as being 'against the children.' While this is a patently false generalization, it will resonate, especially with uninformed voters. Democrats are licking their chops at that thought. The danger is that Republicans will oblige them, cowering in the corner and refusing to boldly proclaim the problems with this legislation.

Bush himself is not against SCHIP. In fact, he proposed an expansion of the program (doubling the funding it already had). But, the Democrats twisted the program so far from its original intent that he was forced to veto their bill. Let's recap:

SCHIP was intended to be:
- health care coverage for children of families making up to 200% of the poverty line (about $40,000 per year)

SCHIP will become:
- a massive tax increase on tobacco (remember, more low-income families are smokers than high-income families)
- the first step in universal health care (remember, Hillary said it herself)
- government health care for families making over $80,000 a year
- government health care for illegal aliens
- for every 10 children enrolled in SCHIP, 6 of them have dropped the private insurance they already had (to become eligible for SCHIP)

Here's another thought: doesn't the government want smokers to quit smoking? If they do, where will the funding from this program come from? Hmmm...

Bush -- and anyone else -- who voted against SCHIP did not do so due to being 'against the children'. Instead, he is simply trying to keep the program focused on its intent.

Rush is right. Call your reps and encourage them to stand boldly and proclaim the truth of why this legislation is bad.

There's my two cents.