01.10.08
AG Abbott’s Health Care Privatization Gambit
At the annual gathering of Leininger “conservatives”, the people who’ve done so much to our state, Attorney General Greg Abbott - rumored to be running either for Gov. or Lt. Gov. in 2010 - gave the keynote address. He’s got a bright idea, Attorney general proposes health insurance program for kids in child support system.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Wednesday proposed a health insurance program to cover uninsured children in the state’s child support system.
He said the program, which would provide private insurance, is designed for the 200,000 children in the system who don’t have coverage through their parents’ jobs or government programs.
Surely AG Abbott is aware that he wouldn’t need to give this speech if it wasn’t for President Bush and his rubber stamp Sen. John Cornyn. I hope Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) was just hypnotized by the “wing-nut” hysteria in the air when she said this:
State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said she might prefer a public-private partnership rather than the private insurance Abbott proposed. “I’m intrigued to learn more,” she said. “Obviously, anything we can do to get all the kids covered, we should do.”
Has she forgotten about Accenture?! Anne Dunkelberg from the CPPP does a excellent job of taking apart AG Abbott’s idea of shifting more of our tax money to insurance corporations.
Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, said that to save the state money and to avoid confusing layers of administration, Abbott’s program should rely on the structure of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Her group works for low- and middle-income Texans.
Essentially, she suggested, the CHIP program could expand to allow families in the child-support system who are above the CHIP income limit ($41,300 for a family of four) to buy in to the program.
“There’s no reason this program could not piggyback on the CHIP system,” she said.
But, as we know, there’s no corporate insurance profit in extending health care the uninsured children that way. Therefore it’s not feasible. Even better than expanding CHIP would be going to a universal, single-payer health care plan. Where every American, no matter if they have a dead beat Dad or not, have health care.
gregry17 said,
January 10, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Perhaps General Abbott should concentrate more on enforcing the orders of the court. Most all orders for support outline health insurance guidelines requiring the non-custodial parent to provide the child’s health insurance. Abbott should track the dead beats, enforce the orders, and stop pandering to the health care industry. I guess he feels guilty about the majority of children under his protective eye. The ones he fails.
Eye on Williamson » Inane AAS Editorial On AG’s Health Care Gambit said,
January 13, 2008 at 3:04 pm
[…] post from earlier in the […]