-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: robert weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: July 25, 2007 7:50:55 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [corp-focus] A Heartless "Philosophy"
Comment on this and other columns at:
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/editorsblog
----
A Heartless "Philosophy"
By Robert Weissman
July 25, 2007
After six-and-a-half miserable years, it is hard to tally up the
worst abuses of the Bush administration.
Narrow the field, and focus only on abuses related to the economy.
That's the universe of all the favors that the Bush-Cheney cabal
has done for Big Business, so it is still a very competitive contest.
A case can be made that the administration's effort to block
expansion of the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
should top the list.
SCHIP is a complement to Medicaid, and provides health insurance to
uninsured children from low-income families, typically those making
up to 200 percent of the poverty line ($34,000). It has had
enormous success in its 10 years of existence. Four million
children receive health insurance through SCHIP. It has reduced the
number of children in families at or slightly above the poverty
line who are uninsured by about a quarter.
This has very real and concrete meaning. As the Center for Budget
and Policy Priorities has shown, children with insurance get more
preventative care, get better treatment for chronic conditions like
asthma, have far fewer unmet medical needs, and get better dental
treatment.
SCHIP is now up for reauthorization. Because of medical inflation,
the program needs more money to provide insurance to the same
number of kids. Because the program has been a clear winner,
members of Congress from both parties want to provide this needed
funding, and to expand the program further.
But President Bush says no.
He has a "philosophical" objection to expanding SCHIP.
"I believe government cannot provide affordable health care," Bush
said at a media event last week. "I believe it would cause the
quality of care to diminish. I believe there would be lines and
rationing over time. If Congress continues to insist upon expanding
health care through the SCHIP program -- which, by the way, would
entail a huge tax increase for the American people -- I'll veto the
bill."
Here's what is most remarkable about this philosophical objection
from the White House: It isn't shared by the for-profit insurance
industry.
Last week, the Senate Finance Committee, by a 17-4 vote, approved a
reauthorization of SCHIP that would enable the program to cover an
additional 4 million children without insurance. Most of these
children -- 85 percent -- would already be eligible under existing
standards, but would not be covered for lack of funds. The Senate
proposal is funded by a 61-cent-a-pack cigarette tax increase,
which would have health benefits of its own: deterring almost two
million children from taking up smoking, encouraging more than a
million adult smokers to quit.
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the trade association for
the health insurance industry, "supports the Senate package," says
Mohit Ghose, AHIP Vice President of Public Affairs.
"Kids coverage come first" in the effort to get all Americans
covered, he says.
Isn't it strange that the administration is trying to protect the
industry, but your position is supportive of the Senate approach?
It's about a "philosophical point," not protecting the industry,
says Ghose.
"I defer to the White House on what is government-run healthcare."
The Bush administration's position is that an expansion of SCHIP
will mean that some covered children otherwise would have received
private insurance, and that the government program will therefore
"crowd out" private insurance.
It is true that, under the Senate program, about a third of kids
newly covered would otherwise have had private insurance. But as
the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities emphasizes, this is
unavoidable (if you are in fact trying to avoid it): the patchwork
nature of U.S. private health insurance makes it impossible to
cover any group outside of the very poorest and not also provide
coverage to some who would otherwise have some private insurance.
Moreover, says the group's Matthew Broaddus, any parent switching
their child from private insurance to a public program is doing so
either because they have to pay too much out-of-pocket, or because
they think they can get better care from the public program.
Where the private insurance industry does line up with the
administration is in opposing a bolder plan moving forward in the
House of Representatives. The House plan would cover more uninsured
children, which does start to worry AHIP, and it would pay for the
expansion both with a cigarette tax and by collecting excess
payments to private insurers in the misnamed Medicare Advantage
program. Medicare Advantage lets seniors opt for a private
insurance plan in lieu of traditional Medicare. These private plans
are collecting at least 12 percent more per covered person than it
costs to treat a person under Medicare. The industry is adamantly
opposed to efforts to stop these overpayments.
As against expanding SCHIP, the administration proposes a
preposterous tax credit to help pay for individual insurance
coverage. Because individual insurance coverage is both the least
efficient component of the health insurance market and the one most
rife with abuse, it is a certainty that the administration plan
would be a failure.
One benefit of having already suffered through the long reign of
President Bush is that he no longer commands the authority he once
did. The vast majority of people in the United States oppose his
position and -- in a change -- a strong majority in Congress oppose
him, as well.
But will Bush veto SCHIP expansion? Will enough Republicans break
from the administration to override (or prevent) a veto? That
depends on how loudly the public insists its elected officials
choose healthcare for kids over twisted philosophies.
Take action now via the Families USA website: <http://ga3.org/
campaign/childrenshealth>.
Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
Multinational Monitor, <http://www.multinationalmonitor.org> and
director of Essential Action <http://www.essentialaction.org>.
(c) Robert Weissman
This article is posted at: <http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/
corp-focus/2007/000265.html>.
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