'Compassionate conservatism' for kids
By Steve Benen Monday Aug 20, 2007 7:07amNot only has the Bush White House strongly resisted a bipartisan congressional effort to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Plan to include 4 million uninsured American children, now our “compassionate conservative” president is forcing states to limit access for kids, too.
The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families. [...]
After learning of the new policy, some state officials said yesterday that it could cripple their efforts to cover more children and would impose standards that could not be met.
“We are horrified at the new federal policy,” said Ann Clemency Kohler, deputy commissioner of human services in New Jersey. “It will cause havoc with our program and could jeopardize coverage for thousands of children.”
Apparently, that doesn’t matter. For Bush, it doesn’t matter that more U.S. children would go without healthcare; it doesn’t even matter that this latest effort would impose burdensome regulations from the federal government on states (some of which are run by Republican governors) who want to do more on their own to expand healthcare access. What matters is Bush’s philosophical resistance to a popular government program that offers uninsured children a chance.
Apparently, when you’re a failed, lame-duck president with a Nixon-like approval rating, rigid ideology is all you have left.
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The Butcher of Crawford strikes again.
Who says this program is "popular"? The people who don't want to pay for their own insurance?
Why don't you have universal health care in the U.S.? Looking in from the outside (Canada), the reasons why you don't look pretty cold to me.
They're not rich and aren't in any position to give to his party or support his "compassionate conservative" agenda. So, they don't count.
Whereas, insurance companies have a lot of money and they give through lobbyists and PAC's. They count.
WTF is wrong with these people? I'm beginning to think that being a conservative Republican should be catigorized as a mental disease.
How are you going to pay for this when there are no smokers? Tax people who drink bottled water?
A conservative can only be as compassionate as a vampire in a blood bank.
Bush is a sociopath. No surprise.
It's popular when a majority of thos ein Congress support it on a bipartisan basis. It's popular when a majority of governorts across the country support it, republicans included.
Hey, I got an idea, the Iraq war is less popular than this program so let's cut funding for that instead.
Rigid ideology is all this president had even before he became a lame duck.
Chris @ 4:
Remember, it's not "giving." It's investing. They sew a couple of million into politicians and reap billions. You gotta spend money to make money. It's the new American way.
antisocialist @ 2:
A journalist who has looked into this matter for the NYT? Feel free to do your own research though to prove him wrong.. you know.. going out into the field.. talking to experts and the people who work in this area.. cause I can't imagine that you would pull statements refuting its popularity out of your ass or something.
This is IMPEACHABLE. Plain and Simple...
The second line in and he's done it again!
... promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,...
That is part of the document he swore to defend. This represents, yet another, "High crime and/or misdemeanor" by the sitting (almost always) president.
Bush (and antisocialist): I've got mine so f**k you! But praise Jesus!
Protect the babies in the womb but abandon them after they are born? Yeah, Republican psycho-logic strikes again.
Just goes to show they will sacrifice anyone upon their altar of failed ideology.
don't worry antisocialist, the river IS going to rise. will you swim to safety or climb into a boat? or you could just drown, that sounds okay to me.
I think too much is being made of this. I despise the Bush administration as much as anyone else, but let's not boil our blood over this.
The headlines are what get you most mad. One I read says, "New Bush Admin Rules Aim to Block Child Healthcare Programs."
The New York Times' headline reads, "White House Acts to Limit Health Plan for Children."
Literally, those headlines are true. But they make it sound like it's ALL children. It's not. Read this article, and it says, "The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families."
That's because middle-income families are using CHIP when they don't really need it. They are using it at the expense of other, more needy families.
Bash the Bush administration for suspending Habeas Corpus. For ripping up the Bill of Rights. For unbalancing the separation of powers. For Guantanamo Bay. For Walter Reed. For Hurricane Katrina. For the War in Iraq. For any and all issues with cronyism, including Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Miers, and the Valerie Plame scandal.
But not this.
Welcome to the new Trail of Tears - the entire American continent. Unless you are filthy rich, of course. Then, you are having the time of your life.
Deny our nation's children... WTF? What person who isn't brain damaged would think this is OK to do?
Can't have them bad, poor people gittin' freebies - that's the province of the wealthy, GOOD people.
Cheney has said publicly that he doesn't care what people think of him. Sunday, Rove said the same thing. I imagine geo bush is in that same camp. He'll do as the big corporations please and to hell with the results as it touches human lives.
Compassionate Conservatism has never been more than a catch-phrase. Bush and his idealogical kin would save us from any taint of socialism while embracing fascism.
Had they been in power during WWII they would have allied themselves with the Nazis.
The GOP think tanks decided a long time ago that in order to keep the American economy growing they would have to harvest
middle class savings across the board.
The 1% that fund the GOP think tanks are only looking out for their own sustained growth, and mining middle class assets guarantees that growth. The GOP leaders Hastert, Frist, and Bushco LLC set their "balanced budget" projections on more middle class families falling into the Alternative Minimum Tax web and not by fiscal responsibility.
Of course he is not interested in funding lower middle income insurance for kids. It's strip mine politics 101.
Peanutcat @ 5:
These pea brains could fill up a "lental institution". ;)
Bill B. @ 18:
So true and so false.
False) "middle-income families [would be] using CHIP when they don't really need it": This is bullshit. When are we going to wake up and realize that, due to inflation, 40K/year is not "middle income" any more. You draw me up a budget for a family of 4 that can afford the roughly $400/month that comprehensive coverage for their family would cost, on top of the copays and deductables that follow.
True) "They [would be] using it at the expense of other, more needy families": Sales taxes target the poor, who are forced to spend a much larger portion of their income on goods, with little left for savings. The cigarette tax is even more targetted, given the concentration of smokers among lower incomes (if you've got the money, prescription pills are a way better buzz without the hacking cough). The expansion should have been funded by a straight-up federal income tax (just like medicare/medicaid is for the poor, helpless, but very eligible to vote elderly)
When are the holdouts going to WAKE THE FUCK UP! These are CHILDREN! They have NO power over their lives. They have no ability to influence whether or not their parents are responsible or irresponsible with money! They have no ability to work and pay for their own insurance! They cannot change their situation in life.
This country is poisoned with the spirit of mammon; making praise unto rich old white men while ignoring the cries of sick children
SonOfLiberty @ 25:
Note: Medicare/Medicaid jointly funded by state and federal income taxes. Just to clarify.
antisocialist @ 2:
I really want to know how you expect children to pay for their own insurance.
Many parents do not even have their own insurance, it has something to do with not having enough money.
I heard it's this "poverty" that's been going around, whatever that is.
Bush n'em could give a ratzass about children and health care coverage. This regulation is a simply a reminder to private health carriers, hmo's, and their ilk that the Repigs think public health means private profit.
Or in the vernacular: screw the Dems and send us da money.
Aon213 @ 12:
Troll alert. I recommend ignoring it...
So what are the numbers? I have not yet seen an article with a count or estimate of how many will be cut out by this move.
It seems to me that should be right there in the headline:
Bush Chooses to Leave 4.5 Million Behind
or whatever the real number may be.
As each outrage trumps the one before it, as both houses blink in their own stultifying dullness, the WORDS without action continue. This effects my family and millions more. Dullard Dems/Sociopathic Criminal republicans.
So without humanity. OUT THEY GO, EVERYBODY!!!
We no longer have anything to lose. Marches are passe`, the patient requires REAL ACTION from US. A mass response of civil non-cooperation/strikes. Not for one cowardly day, either.
Withholding contributions to the dems (with the exception of Kucinich and Gravel) is a START. They're stealing us blind anyway, let's begin with taxes and dump AT&T for example, use alternate companies wherever possible, search classifieds of Mother Jones and Utne, find companies with conscience for our business.
A multi-tiered revolution is both necessary and wise for our survival as a country at this point.
Uh-oh, sorry. I should have re-read the blog post because it mentions 4 Million children right in the first paragraph. Okay, so again, I ask our newspapers to call this what it is.
Bush Deliberately Leaves 4 Million Children Behind
I think the rage here is all misplaced. Nothing stops a state from taxing its own citizens to fund middle class children's healthcare. I live in NY - as expensive as it gets. If I lived in Utah - as cheap as it gets - I'd be ticked off at having my federal taxes used to pay NY-level expenses. If Spitzer wants to address the healthcare need of the middle-class here, he has a Demcratic legislature. Let him do it. He can get it done. The federal govt should keep its budget under control.
This is NOT an issue of whether kids get covered - unless the states choose not to act themselves. It is an issue of which government units pay for it. Certain individual states are trying to spread the cost of healthcare in their state by burying it in out of staters' federal taxes.
Bush lives in a 1600 acre ranch but the media gives him "every guy" treatment while he throws kids under the bus. E coli conservatism on the march
Whatever happened to conservatives wanting less government intrusion? Modern day Republicans seem to want the federal government to decide more and not be questioned.
Those "less government" Republicans really show their stripes when corporate interests are threatened. Then suddenly the solution is more regulation from the federal government. Regulation centralized in the hands of one man.
Conservatisim = More centralized power in federal government ???
I am soooo sick of all the
"But what about the children" crudola...
We need basic healthcare for EVERYONE.
Every Man,Woman AND child in this country.
To argue over a stupid program like this one which does as much good as a bandaid on a broken leg, is futile imo.
Universal Healthcare for all americans is the only humane approach.
So quit begging for scraps of healthcare when we all deserve to sit at the 'Adults' table when it comes to healthcare.
Force the rich to get the exact same healthcare as the poor and watch just how fast the quality improves.
MT @ 33:
You live in New York, you should be pissed off because you already subsidize low cost states like Utah. The Northeastern states pay more into the system than they get back. Why shouldn't they balance that a little by offsetting the astronomical cost of everything in those states to the workers who can't get by.
In my state, NJ, the cost of private medical insurance for a family of 4, with a very high deductable, is $1800 a month. Through small group (for those lucky enough to get it) it is round $650 a month. Well out of the reach of low and middle income families without giving up stuff like shelter or food.
liana @ 37:
MT @ 33:
Nothing like a few facts to sharpen up the day. Thanks for making this important distinction. Keeping in mind, however, the federal burden on the states becomes more imposing, demanding, frivolous, whilst removing our protections (nat'l guard) and civil liberties (nat's id card for openers). The feds are doing everything in their power to WASTE STATE RESOURCES. And they are doing it for a reason. That reason not one for which this system was designed. That reason is not for the health of the states nor for protection from natural disasters (of course perhaps under the guise or pretense for imposing further breaches of state boundaries and our freedoms).
In fact, Pancho Gonzales is threatening the withholding of fed money unless states take on the burden of billions of dollars to fund the stomping of our civil protections unless states participate in THEIR OWN DEMISE.
Traditional use and function of fed & state monies is perverted beyond recognition.
If anyone needed more proof of what a sociopathic scumbag George Bush is - this childrens health care is it.
Speaking of health care for kids, this is a travesty for the cheney/bush administration. Guess they need more money for killing Muslims.
Slightly OT, but I wonder if medical insurance is going to pay for daughter jenna's abortion?
Da Spyda @ 40:
Prolife indeed. Bush is a DEATHDEALER all the way.
Canuck@41,
"Slightly OT, but I wonder if medical insurance is going to pay for daughter jenna’s abortion?"
Coupled with the fantasy that Barb flipped out and drowned her spawn in the bathtub.
Lil' George musta read that young people are leaning heavily Democratic. He figures that they more kids who die needlessly from treatable medical problems, the fewer Democrats there will be in the future.
As sick and twisted is that is, that explanation makes more sense than anything else. It's evil, but not stupid. And the President isn't stupid, is he?
Oh, wait. My bad. Nevermind.
Why can't the kids just open their own tax-deferred Health Savings Accounts?
Deadbeats, they show no initiative
But Bush just said publicly that we don't need national health care, because all Americans already have health care, and I quote: "They can go to the emergency room".
Where they can all eat cake.
Why are we all still talking on blogs? Why haven't we thrown their asses into jail, preferably a foreign jail.
Down here in the Banana Republic of Florida, more and more cigar stores are putting up "Stop the Cigar Tax!" signs (saw one just yesterday, as a matter of fact) It seems the brown dick smokers are all in an uproar because they don't wanna pay more taxes on their habit. That's right, boys and girls, we live in a country with people who would rather see children go without medical treatment than have to pony up a few more cents for their habit. Well, I've got two words for the whole bunch of 'em - throat cancer.
myiq2xu @ 44:
We forget this all-important truth. bush keeps banging his head under the low ceiling of his limitations shared by his loud and obnoxious ilk. It is a type of subhuman. YES THEY ARE FUCKING STUPID!
And WE keeping banging our heads against our own INABILITY TO ACT and take care of what needs to be taken care of, and destroy what needs to be destroyed.
gene214 @ 48:
Here in CO tobacco tax will fund children's health care. Good. I support that for now. BUT the money comes from who? Of course! The POOR! Nothing like a bit of self-righteousness to overrule the perception of what's ACTUALLY taking place here.
Then we can take the pressure off the OTHER fucked up spending that goes on between the states and the feds, or have them take responsibility for that. heh?
Another thing gene@214, we should ALL have our healthcare, whilst incorporating responsibility for prevention and choice for our health decisions. which we would have were the war profiteers not swallowing TRILLIONS of our taxpayer dollars. Go have a look at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iraqforsale
Then see where your vitriol for tobacco tax and demonizing goes. Don't play into the divide and conquer game. It's one we buy into easy as pie, and bush's most effective trump card when we get too close to the truth.
I hope Bush grinds this pile of nonsense of a bill into dust never to return. The current Congress is nothing more then a bunch of posers and procrastinators. The Dems sup at the same trough as the Repugs...The insurance companies OWN them and all we keep getting from the Dems are band aid solutions that continue to side step the real needs for Americans...Oh, gene214 lets just say that raising the cigar tax forces the buyers into purchasing on the black market or even to quit smoking them. Where then does the revenue come from? Please...this is a bill fostered by panderers and supported by douchbags!
Please sir, can I have some more?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl0wcSsRQf8
Those kids don't matter, they're not part of my base. "The haves and the have mores". Uh, heh heh heh heh....
It's interesting that the assumption is Bush's veto is a done deal; if the program is needed you would think that Congress could garner the necessary votes to override it.
What's appalling is that some people wonder how the government will pay for for this useful program and yet those same people don't think at all about how we're throwing away millions of dollars a day to destroy another country.
I would think that Congress could pass the CHIP program without taxing a powerless minoritoy to pay for it. You may not like smokers, but it is completely unfair to pay for a children's health care program by taxing smokers. I hope it fails until they can find a more fair and equal way to pay for it. I don't mind paying"my fair share," but I do mind paying everybody else's fair share, as well.
glf @ 55:
It's because at this point we don't trust congress as a whole to do the right thing, the obvious thing, and the Bluedogs fucking up every straightforward commonsensical gesture the rest labor over to create. If it isn't bush saying fuck you congress, it's the bluedogs saying fuck the people.
Agree 200% with the "don't look here" schizo short attention span snapping at flies that allows such easy distractions of the american citizenry. Blast it long and loud and they'll forget how or why they came.
If you haven't seen Iraqforsale and have an 1hr.15min. have a look at exactly what you're pointing out here.
There is plenty of money to kill kids in Iraq and Afghanistan, but no money to keep kids alive and healthy in those countries, or even (gasp) America. Is anyone really surprised by this latest offense against his own fellow-citizens? I guess all the 25% must be independently wealthy and afford to buy the best health care available.
Conservatives are terrified of Americans getting a taste of good, widespread social programs.
Batocchio @ 59:
Which is why the time is ripe to shove them out of our way, grab the tiller and steer our own ship into where we take care of one another again. You know, the idea of a gov't that doesn't FEED OFF it's people like a parasite. (revolution)
Why does Bush hate Jesus? "Whatsoever you do to the least of my people you do to me."
If Jesus weren't dead for 2000 years he'd hate him too. In fact he'd cheerfully cut his throat.
Batocchio @ 59:
I always get a kick when they scream how bad things would get, we could be like Canada, or the EU, or Japan!!!!
I get a chuckle as I have spent considerable amounts of time abroad, and when I tell them: I can only wish! California with a truly European lifestyle would be heaven on earth!!!! Beautiful scenery, perfect climate, no worries about my health, no indigents on the street, 1 month long vacations to truly enjoy my life, regulated pollutants, social conscience, walking-friendly cities, and porn on the telly after sun down. And don't get me started with the food and the nightlife :-)
I mean, that sounds just sooooo horrible!!!
But, but, but what about the taxes! And I guess that I bring out the paper work and I show how much payed for taxes back in Europe and how much I have to pay here (taxes, plus retirement fund, plus health care cost, etc) and at the end of the day I get over 24% more off my paycheck compared with my salary in Europe. And to boot if I adjust the Euros to dollars I would be making more money.
I wish that if all these "capitalist" buffoons were truly worried about money, so that they would make their homework instead of regurcigating right wing talking points, which actually damage their own bottom lines. I used to think that Americans were just selfish pricks as a whole, however I think that overall they are just dumber than a bag of rocks. Nowhere else in the industrialized world you would see the working class voting against their interests, working 3 jobs, no sort of regulated working conditions, no job security, no benefits (seems that this country considers handguns to be a right yet health care has become a privilege). Bunch of maroons really, willing to fuck up their lives in the name of making someone else richer! But that is the American carrot, err I mean "dream": "Do not fuck it up for the rich, I may be rich some day like the massa!"
And the final argument for Socialist approaches, compare their products: Compare a POS plastic explosion that is an average American sedan vs. a Japanese or European sedan.
Gotta love them, Americans willing to live in crappy conditions, so that they can afford crappy products. Yeeeeehhhhhhaaaaaaa!
Diogenes @ 58:
There was enough money to inject in a single day into the monetary system in order to save the asses of a bunch of greedy fucktards over at Wall st. There has been almost $200 billion injected in the past 2 weeks alone. That would pay for partial universal health care for a shitload of people... yet the money -or money btw- went to just a few sinking ships. And BTW, the money did not go to the people so that they can pay off the mortgages, it went to the people giving the mortgages so that they can continue squeezing the poor saps paying those mortgages. So if we think about it, some people are paying their mortgage twice (one directly, and another indirectly with the infusion of our money).
But hey it is not "corporate welfare" it is "liquidity injection" fuck the lot of them really.
MeMyselfAndI @ 63:
[Deleted. Keep it civil. Make your point without insults or namecalling.]
MeMyselfandI@63, My apologies to the sitemonitor, but that's a "never" to the former.
Hey, aren't these the same group of shitheads who paralyzed the government with their public obsession with presidential blowjobs, then wailed and gnashed their teeth about "what do we tell the children?"
Apparently, after eight years of soul-searching they've decided the best thing to tell the children is to go fuck themselves.
MeMyselfAndI @ 64:
Now that is a point well taken.
Chesire11 @ 67:
Calling Larry Flynt, calling Larry Flynt....
Here's a man I trust to keep his promises. Appears he'll DUMP names and not trickle. I love that devil.
‘Compassionate conservatism’ for kids
http://www.johnnyleeclary.com/NSMYouth.jpg
I am a parent of a handicapped child who is on our state's version of this program. It is a secondary insurance for him, covering what our primary insurance doesn't. We already pay (a lot) for primary insurance through my husband's job. Hubby is diabetic, so health insurance is a necessity, regardless of cost. We try our best, and work hard, but we are working class peons who need the help with care for our son.
Every time funding for this is threatened, I see it as stealing from handicapped, helpless children. It frustrates me.
As an aside, and sort of devil's advocate, I do see a certain justice in cigarette taxes paying for this. Yes, it burdens the poor, but these are the same people who contribute to their childrens' health problems by smoking around their kids, and spending money on smokes instead of nutritious food. There is an issue of responsible choice here. Ideally, it would be wisest if some of that tobacco tax money went to effective smoking cessation programs, to address some of the root cause of many poor children being frequently ill.
Wow, Bush is screwing the middle classes? Why. I'm shocked. Stunned. And I thought he was part of "middle America" as our friend Karl said (and he's so truthful).
For God's sake. Impeach already.
lactose intolerant @ 71:
As a parent I can't imagine how you must feel having to run yourself ragged to keep up with costs with your child's ongoing wellbeing at stake. IT IS WRONG that you are in this position. It is wrong our own government fills you with anxiety over what is your child's birthright and due you by a civilized and decent society.
However, you do make certain punitive remarks about what goes on in the lives of "those people" and how they impact their children's health as though there were teeming hoards of them inconsiderately withholding money for cigarettes instead of decent food? That's a PROJECTION, as is the assumption "they all" blow smoke in their children's faces. Really?
Instead, you're looking at a societal phenomenon of generations of people abandoning one another PLUS a society quick to marginalize and point fingers at lives without opportunity, education or a way out, or upliftment. You didn't mention that.
No, ignore the trillions of debt we and our children face from the blatant thefts of war profiteers and corporate bailouts and thefts of thousands and thousands of pension funds and IRA's.
So much easier stereotyping and scapegoating than dealing with the overwhelming truth.
crazylove, I do believe I qualified my judgmental statement with 'devil's advocate'. I work for the public school system, as a substitute teacher (I cannot afford to further my education to get a better job right now). I deal with poor children every day. Their parents are trying their best, 95% of the time, but there are a minority who are so mired in addiction and depression, brought on by "lives without opportunity, education or a way out, or upliftment", that they just don't bother.
I'm all for universal health care, a living wage, and free higher education. I want REAL opportunity, and regard unregulated capitalism as a fast track to hell. Socialism has its limits, however, and individuals do bear responsibility for their unhealthy choices.
lactoseintolerant@74, you said,
"I’m all for universal health care, a living wage, and free higher education. I want REAL opportunity, and regard unregulated capitalism as a fast track to hell. Socialism has its limits, however, and individuals do bear responsibility for their unhealthy choices."
No one disagrees with that point about individuals bearing responsibility for health choices, unhealthy or otherwise. In other countries human beings get lots of NONJUDGMENTAL preventative care incorporated into health plans, and doctors receive bonuses for saving the kitty future costs.
No, we have to scapegoat and marginalize people (95% are responsible) 5%, do you think these people have ANY effect whatsoever on you or me? No, they don't. We could get into horrendous costs on the system by providing maternity and many other types of care provided to illegal immigrants while people like my family have no insurance and pay RETAIL out of pocket. Or inner city violence and the costs of fantastically expensive surgeries on gunshot wounds and rehabilitation.
No, this small group of people you look down upon have no effect on you or your healthcare except that they arouse your disdain.
Why didn't C&L attribute the news portion of this item to the NYT? Why does C&L attribute sometimes but not all the time?
crazylove @ 75:
I don't look down on anyone EXCEPT the predatory capitalists in our for-profit medical system. My heart goes out to the struggling children I work with, and I am kind to them, for what little that is worth.
Health care was broken when Bill Clinton came into office some 14 years ago, and it's only gotten worse. Single payer health care is the only civilized solution, I agree.
To hopefully clarify my point:
So, let's say that Utopia has arrived, and there is economic and social justice for all (health care, a living wage, etc.). There will still be people who cannot cope with life in any responsible way, no matter how perfect our new economy and culture is. The only civilized, proper thing to do is care for them. Humanity will always be flawed, it is how we are, and we cannot fix every problem we have.
"Sanctity of life"
my ass.
The meanest, hardest hooker in the sleaziest whore house in Bangkok has the heart of a saint compared to any compassionate conservative in the White House.
What is wrong with expanding kid's health coverage is that it would reduce the profits of the insurance industry. How could anyone possibly think children's lives are more important than industry profits?
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