In his first 15 days in office, Obama passed the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The SCHIP allows many more children to possess healthcare coverage. (Note: SCHIP is a United States federal government program that gives matching funds to states in order to provide health insurance to families with children. The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid).
President Bush did not support this measure while in office because he had feared that people would choose this government-supported option as opposed to private options. Also, he correctly noted (see – I can agree with Bush sometimes) that a large number of children that are eligible for Medicaid are not currently enrolled. However, here is where this logic is not very sound. Bush assumed that just because children were not enrolled in the existing programs that we should not expand the current program. As someone that works in healthcare, I can tell you that most hospitals make MANY EFFORTS to help patients qualify for assistance. Many patients simply do not allow the hospital to assist them because they are unsure that the aid exists and/or they fear hospital collection procedures. We should work on solving this problem as opposed to about quibbling about who qualifies.
Anyway, it is nice to see that the new administration has passed this bill and more children can potentially have insurance. Final item I like about this bill (pay attention here, Republicans) – the funds for this bill will be provided by raising taxes on cigarettes. Now, I think that change is that we can all believe – government spending that is supported by real-time revenue!
Thoughts on the Current Political Landscape 