World
Insurance Battle
Will Bush veto sink health boost for children?
Ron Kampeas
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Washington
F
"I cannot support any health care bill
that relies on more Americans becoming
smokers or provides health care benefits
to illegal immigrants. I will vote to extend
the children's health care bill to ensure
no child being covered today losses that
coverage. But the Democrats' bill is a pile
of loose parts that makes no sense for the
American people!"
Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, who sup-
ported the SCRIP bill, told the Jewish News:
"The current Children's Health
Insurance Program is bipartisan and
effective. It currently covers 6 million
children nationwide, including 55,000
kids in Michigan. But with 9 million kids
in America without any health insurance,
rom restricting abortion access
to lowering the church-state wall,
the Bush administration's right-
leaning domestic agenda is often at odds
with the Jewish community's decidedly
liberal views.
But with bipartisan support in Congress
building to expand a program that sup-
plies health coverage to millions of other-
wise uninsured children, Jewish organiza-
tions thought that they had found an easy
opportunity to forge common ground
with the White House.
Not so fast.
President Bush announced last month
that he had philosophical problems with
bills in both houses of Congress aimed
at expanding the State Children's Health
Insurance Program, or SCRIP, and he
vetoed the bill Oct. 3. A vote to override
•
the veto is scheduled for Oct. 18.
In expanding eligibility, Bush told the
Washington Post, "You're really begin-
Joe Knollenberg
Sander Levin
ning to open up an avenue for people
to switch from private insurance to the
government"
we must act to extend the reach of the
Some Catholics in the Detroit area don't program.
agree and are targeting three Republican
"The House and Senate worked together
congressmen who voted against the leg-
to pass a bill that would give states the
islation. A spokeman for the Archdiocese
resources they need to continue coverage
of Detroit called SCRIP "an issue of social
of 6 million kids and expand health insur-
justice and basic human rights."
ance to 4 million more who are currently
The Republicans being targeted are
eligible but not participating. In Michigan,
Joe Knollenberg, Bloomfield Township;
this expansion would allow us to identify
Thaddeus McCotter, Livonia; and Tim
and enroll over 80,900 uninsured kids
Walberg, Tipton
whose families have annual incomes
In a statement to the Jewish News,
between $20,535 and $41,300.
Knollenberg said, "I voted to create the
"The president has vetoed this bipar-
SCRIP program and support extending it
tisan legislation and says that expanding
to ensure that no kid receiving coverage
the program would lead to govern-
today will lose it.
ment-run health care, but the kids that
"But Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi [D-Calif.]
get insurance through this program see
has a bill that expands spending by $35
private doctors and are enrolled in private
billion. To pay for the new spending, she
health plans like Blue Cross-Blue Shield of
raises taxes on tobacco products. But her
Michigan.
financing package only works if 22 mil-
"He also says that the program is too
lion new Americans begin smoking. I am
expensive, but the program is fully paid
against that.
for by an increase in the cigarette tax that
"I think the government should be pro-
will also improve the health of citizens.
moting wellness and healthy living, not
"Providing health care for children
encouraging more Americans to become
should not be a partisan issue and no
smokers.
child in Michigan should have to go with-
out health coverage. Some Republicans
reject this bill because it does not fit into
their rigid ideology. This bill is about a
program that works and kids that need
health care:"
Hadar Susskind, the Washington direc-
tor for the Jewish Council for Public
Affairs, said the SCHIP plan is "one of
those core moral issues the Jewish corn-
munity understands very viscerally. When
politicians stand up and say they care
about children, the working poor, this is
where we see it"
The push to renew and expand the
children's insurance program also has the
support of the National Council of Jewish
Women, B'nai B'rith International, the
Reform movement and the United Jewish
Communities, the national arm of local
Jewish federations. Other backers include
some of the giants of children's advocacy
groups, including the American Medical
Association, the March of Dimes and the
American Academy of Pediatrics.
The program, launched in 1997 and
considered one of the successes of the
Clinton administration, provides funds
to states to insure children whose parents
cannot afford private insurance but who
earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.
Bush's objections are not new They
were outlined in his budget, handed down
in February, which proposed shrinking
aspects of the insurance program.
In a fact sheet, the White House pointed
to states that use their matching funds to
bring the program to families who earn
more than the federal guideline of 200
percent of the poverty level, or $41,300
for a family of four. Under Bush's new
guidelines, states that fund health care for
families who earn more than that would
not receive SCRIP funds.
The White House also targeted those
states that use SCRIP funds to cover par-
ents of children who are eligible. Those
states argue that keeping children healthy
while neglecting their parents does not
make sense. The Bush administration
counters that the program was designed
to help children, not adults, and says three
states insure more adults than children
through SCRIP but did not name them.
Bush's proposal effectively cuts the
program's funding. It adds $4.8 billion to
the existing $5 billion a year program over
five years, a 4 percent increase well below
the 7.7 percent inflation rate attached to
health insurance.
The bill passed in the Senate boosts the
program by $35 billion over five years. The
House version increased it by $47 billion.
Advocates of the program's expanded
funding say they are baffled by the argu-
ment in some conservative circles that
SCRIP represents a move toward social-
ized medicine. Most states, advocates say,
administer the program through private
insurers.
"It's a program that's been in existence
for 10 years, and it's a proven effective pro-
gram," said Sammie Moshenberg, NCJW's
Washington director.
Bush might not win this fight. The
House version passed Aug. 1 by a relatively
narrow 225 to 204, but the Senate version
won by a vote of 68 to 31 — just over the
veto-proof 67.
See Point-Counterpoint opinion pieces on
the SCHIP issue on page 26A.
Answering
Israel's Critics
The Charge
Charges are flying out of the Middle
East against Israel in the lead up to
next month's Middle East peace con-
ference being sponsored by the Bush
administration. Charges claim Israel
is a land grabber and warmonger and
that Israel adds a dangerous nuclear
component to the Middle East.
The Answer
The charges against Israel are a cover
for Arab inaction and inadequacies.
As official anti-Semitism continues
to thrive, there is little effort to quell
terrorism or break up the terrorist
infrastructure, and Israel continues to
be singled out for criticism in interna-
tional and regional bodies.
— Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit
© Jewish Renaissance Media, Oct. 18, 2007
October 18 2007
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