08.02.07

SCHIP Passes The House, John Carter Votes Nay

Posted in Health Care, Congress, Had Enough Yet?, Around The Nation, Around The State at 10:22 am by wcnews

Here’s the roll call vote. Here’s the WaPo article on the passage, Children’s Health Bill Approved By House. It’s no wonder so many Republicans voted against it when you see the hate groups (sarcasm) that are supporting this.

The 225 to 204 vote in the House — largely along party lines — came after hours of delaying tactics, strident rhetoric and trench warfare from Republicans who called the bill the first step toward “socialized medicine,” financed by an unfair tobacco tax increase and cuts for managed-care companies in Medicare.

But in the end, the Democrats had weapons that were just too powerful — a promise to insure 5 million more children who otherwise would have no access to health care, adding to the 6 million children already covered — and the backing of Republican and Democratic governors, the American Medical Association, AARP, the March of Dimes, the Catholic Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and even cyclist Lance Armstrong. And the prospects are good in the Senate, where a key Republican, Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), said, “It’s difficult for me to understand how anyone wouldn’t want to do this.”

But Bush opposes such a major expansion of the program. In an interview with The Washington Post last month, he said, “When you expand eligibility . . . you’re really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government.”

And that last sentence is what the private insurance financed Republicans are worried about. People might actually like this because it works and then not just the poor children will want it. More from earlier this week on Rep. Carter and Sen. Cornyn and Vince has more on how
Texas representatives voted on the bill. For these “representatives” to back insurance companies over children is despicable.

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