Bush vetoes SCHIP expansion

[Texas Proud]

You are right on the $$$$.

The Congress and Old George W could have passed a bill in which the price of drugs would have been negotiated like it is done in the VA system. Instead they chose to stick it (once again)to the American people, while they lined their own pockets with lobbyist $$$$.

It's sad but true.

You must just hate ole George W.... he was not the driving force behind this bill... the guy who was was on 60 minutes and is now a paid lobbist for the drug companies.... W just signed it as requested by the Repubs...

 

[tomz]

You must just hate ole George W.... he was not the driving force behind this bill... the guy who was was on 60 minutes and is now a paid lobbist for the drug companies.... W just signed it as requested by the Repubs...

That would be Billy Tauzin. If Mr. Bush wasn't the driving force, he certainly embraced it after he signed it.

 

[teejayevans]

U.S. National Debt Clock

I'm glad I will probably be dead when this bill comes due. I wonder what the debt collection telephone call will be like?

Hello, Ms/Mr. USA you need to start showing some effort in paying your bills. Have you thought about a garage sale this Saturday? Sell some things you aren't using - some of those parks - Yosemite - or monuments - Washington.

I think the baby boomer generation will be looked at as the debt generation.

The American Empire was a nice experiment while it lasted.

Congress just up the limit to $9 trillion. We can pay if off today, it's
ONLY $30,000 a person. No worries, be happy.
TJ

 

[bright eyed]

Nobody said the higher income families are getting anything for free - most states require a level of co-pay the higher the income.

What this does is jeopardize children's health, especially the low income kids who are currently benefiting from these programs until the politicos figure this political crap out. the state programs are built in coordination w/ the federal money so millions of kids are on the fence here...the new uninsured numbers will have to be retabulated if the congress can't get their crap together.

 

[Gumby]

You must just hate ole George W.... ..

Wags is not the only one -- Approval of Bush, Congress hits new low - Yahoo! News

I would like to know what the 31% who still approve of his job performance are smoking -- maybe they can send some of it to me.

 

[travelover]

Can't you liberals see this would only encourage kids to get sick? It's like when Blackwater started paying for wrongful civilian causalities, people just wanted to get killed.

jk hold your fire.

 

[Gumby]

Can't you liberals see this would only encourage kids to get sick? It's like when Blackwater started paying for wrongful civilian causalities, people just wanted to get killed.

jk hold your fire.

Actually, we want children to have proper healthcare because we hate America.

 

[Texas Proud]

Wags is not the only one -- Approval of Bush, Congress hits new low - Yahoo! News

I would like to know what the 31% who still approve of his job performance are smoking -- maybe they can send some of it to me.

No... they are different .... just because someone does not approve of his job performance does not automatically go into 'hating' him. I do not approve of his performance (nor most of the Repubs that I thought would do a better job), but I don't hate them.... just dissappointed.

The liberals HATE ole W just like I hated Clinton, even though he (Clinton) did an OK job

 

[Wags]

Bush Vetoes SCHIP expansion

You must just hate ole George W.... he was not the driving force behind this bill... the guy who was was on 60 minutes and is now a paid lobbist for the drug companies.... W just signed it as requested by the Repubs...

Texas Proud the word HATE is a little harsh. For your information I do NOT HATE Old George W. What I do not like are HIS WARS, his Iraq War policies and some (not all) of his domestic policies. Afterall the varmint is not known for his intergrity and as being an honest broker (tends to bend the truth and in the case of the Iraq War plain lied to the American people on the reasons for attacking and invading Iraq).

"W just signed it as requested by the Repubs" is a LAME excuse. Old George W knew exactly what he was doing. The Medicare drugs could have been negotiated like they are in the VA system but he chose not to follow that path. Just like with other bills he could have used his VETO.

Both Congress and Old George W have about a 31% approval rating.

 

[Wags]

Wags is not the only one -- Approval of Bush, Congress hits new low - Yahoo! News

I would like to know what the 31% who still approve of his job performance are smoking -- maybe they can send some of it to me.

Gumby thanks for the post. Texas Proud's assumption that I HATE Old George W is a little HARSH. And you know what they say about assumptions.

GOD BLESS

 

[Wags]

No... they are different .... just because someone does not approve of his job performance does not automatically go into 'hating' him. I do not approve of his performance (nor most of the Repubs that I thought would do a better job), but I don't hate them.... just dissappointed.

The liberals HATE ole W just like I hated Clinton, even though he (Clinton) did an OK job

For your information I am an Independent.

When one hates the only one that is being damaged is the hater because they in time will bring themselves down to the level of the object of their HATE.

I am an ADVOCATE for PEACE and as such at times I can be passionate about it, but do not make the mistake of thinking that my passion for PEACE is HATE. You know about what they say about people who make assumptions.

Please get it through your HEAD that I do NOT HATE Old George W. I do not HATE anyone.

I will pray that you will get over your hate for Clinton.

GOD BLESS

 

[Texas Proud]

For your information I am an Independent.

When one hates the only one that is being damaged is the hater because they in time will bring themselves down to the level of the object of their HATE.

I am an ADVOCATE for PEACE and as such at times I can be passionate about it, but do not make the mistake of thinking that my passion for PEACE is HATE. You know about what they say about people who make assumptions.

Please get it through your HEAD that I do NOT HATE Old George W. I do not HATE anyone.

I will pray that you will get over your hate for Clinton.

GOD BLESS

Nice to know.... and good for you also...

I would love to have peace... and would agree that we should just leave Iraq and let them sort it out... but then there will be a whole lot more people being killed.

You are right.. I do not hate Clinton like some of the rabid people did and do.. but I don't trust the guy one bit... he makes even George look like a ametuer when it comes to lying...

 

[chinaco]

The problem is availability of affordable health care. The solution does not have to be a government hand out.

I believe the fix should be with Federal regulations on insurers to allow the uninsured in groups... no red lining! If you think about it... on average, most people at any point in time ar relatively healthy... especially people under 65 (qualify for medicare). The mix of unhealthy and healthy should be statistically the same. Let the insurers (foreign and domestic) bid on the contract. Obviously there is more to it than this simple idea... But it should work. If that is coupled with a tax break... Why wouldn't it work?

 

[teejayevans]

The problem is availability of affordable health care. The solution does not have to be a government hand out.

I believe the fix should be with Federal regulations on insurers to allow the uninsured in groups... no red lining! If you think about it... on average, most people at any point in time ar relatively healthy... especially people under 65 (qualify for medicare). The mix of unhealthy and healthy should be statistically the same. Let the insurers (foreign and domestic) bid on the contract. Obviously there is more to it than this simple idea... But it should work. If that is coupled with a tax break... Why wouldn't it work?

Because a healthy 25 year old doesn't want to subsidize the unhealthy
55 year olds. For the healthy, there will always be private insurance that
is lower than what the govt can provide, so in the end, the govt program
will only have the unhealthy people.
What you are asking for is socialism, not capitalism.
TJ

 

[ziggy29]

This whole thing has become typical full-contact partisan politics as usual.

The Democrats overreached on this bill to make a political point, IMO, and now the other side is blustering unnecessarily as well.

It would be far easier to scale back the eligibility a little bit, still get all the poor kids at a lower price tag, and send something up that the president will sign and would still represent a modest *expansion* of the program. But that's not good politics as we enter the final year before the next election. Better to point fingers at each other than doing the business of the people. In other words, politics as usual and neither side is doing what's right here.

 

[Beststash]

The problem is availability of affordable health care. The solution does not have to be a government hand out.

I believe the fix should be with Federal regulations on insurers to allow the uninsured in groups... no red lining! If you think about it... on average, most people at any point in time ar relatively healthy... especially people under 65 (qualify for medicare). The mix of unhealthy and healthy should be statistically the same. Let the insurers (foreign and domestic) bid on the contract. Obviously there is more to it than this simple idea... But it should work. If that is coupled with a tax break... Why wouldn't it work?

I like your ideas and I agree that no one whats a handout. This is simply spin that attracts the worst element of both political parties but sadly it get most of the attention.

I think the healthcare industry, much like the energy industry, feels that under our present system of government they are free to rape and pillage without regard to ethics because they simply can. As the healthcare problem hits more and more Americans the rhetoric will stop and a crisis will occur - then and only then will something happen. Our society (not just government) is very good at handling crisis but terrible at planning. This time around the healthcare issue will not go away and the SCHIP is simply a tool to start the discussion. When you see the GOP admit there is a problem then shortly thereafter a solution will begin to be formulated - maybe the next election will be a wakeup call??

Peace

 

[MasterBlaster]

The conspiracy theory... as documented here by Beststash who has it all figured out...

What could go wrong with the elimination of redlining....Hmmm

Well for one who needs to buy insurance. I'll get it when I get sick. Until then why should I pay ? And if you (or your employer) is silly enough to continue buying health insurance, then you can bet that costs will go up big time.

Your solution trades one set of problems for another.

 

[bright eyed]

This whole thing has become typical full-contact partisan politics as usual.

The Democrats overreached on this bill to make a political point, IMO, and now the other side is blustering unnecessarily as well.

Is that straight off the white house press release?

It was a Bi-partisan bill and the $80k (for a family of 4) that people are bemoaning was only being considered in high cost of living states like NYC and most other states wouldn't have gone up that high because every state wants to make the most needy kids eligible first so they can't afford to increase the eligibility. Nobody increases eligibility for the sake of it, they have to see how many kids that would affect and then make the eligibility (and cost sharing) accordingly.

 

[FinanceDude]

What gets me here is that poor kids get treatment, they end up in emergency rooms all around the country and get seen.

This is why our system is garbage. Its I'Ve got mines and the heck with the rest of ya.

Sorry if we can spend almost 600 BILLION for a war in Iraq we can have healthcare for every american.

Ok, Chicken Little...........

 

[ziggy29]

Is that straight off the white house press release?

It was a Bi-partisan bill ....

They also had to know it was more of an expansion than the president would sign. I know it had some Republican support, but if they reduced the expansion even a little bit, either (a) it's something he might sign or (b) it would have enough support to override a veto.

If your emphasis is more on getting things done than scoring political points, you'd set your sights a little lower, still get an overall expansion, and get it done. I believe they tried to send up something he'd veto so they could use it as a bludgeon against the White House for "hating children" or whatever.

 

[bright eyed]

They also had to know it was more of an expansion than the president would sign. I know it had some Republican support, but if they reduced the expansion even a little bit, either (a) it's something he might sign or (b) it would have enough support to override a veto.

If your emphasis is more on getting things done than scoring political points, you'd set your sights a little lower, still get an overall expansion, and get it done. I believe they tried to send up something he'd veto so they could use it as a bludgeon against the White House for "hating children" or whatever.

perhaps, but he may have also vetoed something lower anyhow (he did it in Texas) if it included any increases (and say that the reason). and the program needed increases just to sustain the current enrollees in various states.

 

[ziggy29]

perhaps, but he may have also vetoed something lower anyhow (he did it in Texas) if it included any increases (and say that the reason). and the program needed increases just to sustain the current enrollees in various states.

It's possible, but if he still vetoed something pared down considerably, then he's a total schmuck (above and beyond what you already think) and would likely have his veto overridden very quickly, thus further weakening an already weakening president.

I believe it was the *intent* of Reid and Pelosi to produce something Bush would veto. The Democrats effectively did that to Bush's father in 1991 and 1992 and successfully used that against him in the election of '92. Why wouldn't they want to try to replace that success? I understand there are political games to be played here, and I'm convinced that ultimately they will produce a somewhat watered-down bill that Bush will sign -- but let's at least be honest in Washington and not act shocked when he vetoed something that plays right into your political calculations.

 

[chinaco]

The conspiracy theory... as documented here by Beststash who has it all figured out...

What could go wrong with the elimination of redlining....Hmmm

Well for one who needs to buy insurance. I'll get it when I get sick. Until then why should I pay ? And if you (or your employer) is silly enough to continue buying health insurance, then you can bet that costs will go up big time.

Your solution trades one set of problems for another.

The program would likely need to be mandatory. Since our society will not let the person die... the rest of us pay.

There was the comment about the 25 year old... That 25 year old will be a 50 year old one day. There is no workable way. The only other option would be to let someone without coverage that becomes ill die or suffer without treatment.

Participation is not optional! If it is left optional... some large portion of the population will game it.

Otherwise... we are back where we started. Cost shifting. Believe it or not we are all paying for the uninsured today. When someone without insurance gets treatment... who do you think pays?

 

[ziggy29]

There was the comment about the 25 year old... That 25 year old will be a 50 year old one day. There is no workable way. The only other option would be to let someone without coverage that becomes ill die or suffer without treatment.

You're right, of course, but I don't see why a 25-year-old would have confidence in this argument, seeing as it's been used on Social Security and Medicare, which are giving each successive generation a worse deal.

Of course "let them die" isn't an option (except *perhaps* for the very terminally ill for whom death is imminent), but I don't think we should expect young people today to go gleefully into another program or mandate which is designed to protect older people at the expense of the young. Those programs haven't exactly worked well for today's youth...

 

[Letj]

Please enlighten me as to why we should pay for the medical insurance for the children of clearly middle class families ?

Clearly middle class? Are you subscribing to the government definition of middle class. Try living on $80K and tell me how middle class you'll feel, especially if you have to pay to insure a family of 4 or five or whatever.