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 Children’s Healthcare Is a No-BrainerPosted on Jul 24, 2007By Amy Goodman Deamonte Driver had a toothache. He was 12 years old. He had no insurance, and his mother couldn’t afford the $80 to have the decayed tooth removed. He might have gotten it taken care of through Medicaid, but his mother couldn’t find a dentist who accepted the low reimbursements. Instead, Deamonte got some minimal attention from an emergency room, his condition worsened and he died. Deamonte was one of 9 million children in the U.S. without health insurance. Congress is considering bipartisan legislation that will cover poor children in the U.S. The major obstacle? President Bush is vowing to veto the bill, even though Republican and Democratic senators reached bipartisan agreement on it. The bill adds $35 billion to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program over the next five years by increasing federal taxes on cigarettes. The conservative Heritage Foundation is against the tobacco tax to fund SCHIP, saying that it “disproportionately burdens low-income smokers” as well as “young adults.” No mention is made of any adverse impact on Heritage-funder Altria Group, the cigarette giant formerly known as Philip Morris. According to the American Association for Respiratory Care, with every 10 percent rise in the cigarette tax, youth smoking drops by 7 percent and overall smoking declines by 4 percent. Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, says: “It is a public health good in and of itself and will save lives to increase the tobacco tax. Cigarettes kill and cigarettes provoke lung cancer, and every child and every [other] human being we can, by increasing the cigarette tax, stop from smoking or slow down from smoking is going to have a public health benefit, save taxpayers money from the cost of the effects of smoking and tobacco.” Two programs serve as the health safety net for poor and working-class children: Medicaid and SCHIP (pronounced “s-chip"). SCHIP is a federal grant program that allows states to provide health coverage to children who belong to working families earning too much to be eligible for Medicaid but not enough to afford private health insurance when their employers do not provide it. It’s the SCHIP funding that is now being debated in Congress. The Children’s Defense Fund has published scores of stories similar to Deamonte’s. Children like Devante Johnson of Houston. At 13, Devante was fighting advanced kidney cancer. His mother tried to renew his Medicaid coverage, but bureaucratic red tape tied up the process. By the time Devante got access to the care he needed, his fate was sealed. He died at the age of 14, in Bush’s home state, only miles from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, one of the world’s leading cancer treatment and research facilities. With children’s lives at stake, Edelman has no patience for political gamesmanship: “Why is this country, at this time, the richest in the world, arguing about how few or how many children they can serve? We ought to—this is a no-brainer. The American people want all of its children served. All children deserve health coverage, and I don’t know why we’re having such a hard time getting our president and our political leaders to get it, that children should have health insurance.” Republican Sen. Gordon Smith originally introduced the SCHIP budget resolution in the Senate. Unlike Bush, who is not up for re-election, Smith is defending his vulnerable Senate seat in 2008, in the blue state of Oregon. He, like other Republicans who are breaking with Bush on the war in Iraq, is sensitive to Bush’s domestic policies. Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families just released a poll that says 91 percent of Americans support the expansion of SCHIP to cover more kids. And the American people are willing to go much further. As demonstrated by the popularity of Michael Moore’s latest blockbuster, “SiCKO,” the public, across the political spectrum, is ready to fix the U.S. healthcare system. How many more children like Deamonte and Devante have to die before the politicians, all with great health insurance themselves, take action? © 2007 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate Previous item: CNN/YouTube Debates: Democrats in Sharper Focus Next item: Bush in Free Fall Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
By Rangerider, August 17, 2007 at 3:33 pm # Amy didn’t ask this question...no one on this board asked the question...so i will ask. Raising the taxes will cause people to stop smoking...if people stop smoking, where will the funding come from? Find another RELIABLE source of revenue for this and then i will be all for it.
By alfazedz, August 13, 2007 at 12:39 pm # I shall continue to smoke to save your children. In fact, I shall double the amount I smoke to save your children. I was about to quit smoking, but shall not to save your children. How selfish it would be of me to quit smoking. It would cause your children to die of toothaches. Sorry for even thinking about stopping smoking.
By V, July 27, 2007 at 6:39 am # farmertx, Seems like the posting is over. Nevertheless, I just want to point out that smokes are already taxed out the ace. I need my income, but its bineg taxed. I need to drive, but I need to have my car checked every year. etc. Again, decriminalize cannabis and tax it.
By Say What ?, July 25, 2007 at 5:34 pm # You people will believe just about any crap you are fed. Not apologizing for our worthless president but come on people wake the hell up will you...Listen, I had a bad tooth problem at age 34. Absessed tooth. You ever had one ? I had no health insurance. I still found a dentist to fix my tooth and I didn’t die. Wake up and look at the parent(s) of this child that is if this is even a true story. All children can get healthcare in the US already. Even illegals which is the main reason our hospitals are going out of business. But, that is a whole aspect to the problems we have with healthcare. But, you want to see how government run healthcare works - just google all the nightmare stories from countries that have government healthcare. These people of have to come to the US to get care. Come on people wake up !
By kevin, July 25, 2007 at 1:58 pm # Amy Goodman chose to leave some facts out of this article. Deamontes mother did not fill out the 1 page form and return it to keep her Medicaid. She also did not try to bring here son to the dentist until the tooth was already infected. By that time she had only days to reapply to Medicaid before her sons infection spread to his brain. Then her son received over $600,000 in emergency room care. She was eligible for Medicaid but did not bother to keep it and she also did not try to help her son until it was to late. So as taxpayers do we have to pay for her insurance, go fill out the paper work and then make her take her son to the doctors. How far do we have to go!! When a mother does not take care of her kids they die.
By V, July 25, 2007 at 1:41 pm # I see my first post made it, hopefully my apology will get posted too. farmertx, would you object to 5 dollars a pack? 10 dollars a pack? Smokers are already getting taxed out the ace. To put it in perspective, I would have to drink 16 gallons of beer to pay the same tax as 1 pack of smokes. And for sure, let’s decriminalize cannabis. I would be more than happy to pay a dollar a pack tax and we wouldn’t have to pay for incarceration of non-criminals. Double the benefit.
By Elton, July 25, 2007 at 1:22 pm # According to the article the boy was covered under Medicade, but could not find anyone to accept Medicade… I thought Medicade was a type of Govt Insuance.
By jamsey, July 25, 2007 at 12:41 pm # As usual the pontificating bleeding heart can come up with 2 examples to change the entire course of our nation. Every illegal alein in this country manages to get the health care they need on our dime, so do the disabled alcoholics, drug addicts, depressed people (you know bi-polar), viagara users, homosexual (aids-hiv, and even operations for women who want to be men and vise versa. Maybe you should go after the welfare brood mares that multiply like roaches as their meal tickets. Lots of fraud and waste already. Get a life or get real, and stop blaming every damn thing on Bush, for God’s sake that is why no-one takes you seriously. No more money from my pocket or anyone elses. how about you dear won’t you dedicate your entire paycheck? Put up or shut up!
By V, July 25, 2007 at 11:17 am # If my previous gets posted, I apologize for the smug butt nugget line. That was uncalled for.
By V, July 25, 2007 at 10:13 am # As a smoker, I am sick and tired of being singled out for paying taxes for others benefits. I am all for health care for children and everyone else. But I am right now paying more in cigarette tax every month than I am paying for health insurance. And you smug butt nuggets say its a no-brainer. It is a brainer. Tax gas. Tax disposable diapers. Tax air. Stop picking on the 20 percent who apparently are second class citizens.
By Dan, July 25, 2007 at 10:08 am # Maybe we should legalize weed to solve the healthcare problems. Sounds like win-win to me. We would have a new industry and more jobs, a new tax revenue stream, and lots of law enforcement funding to use elsewhere. Plus people could get stoned, and perhaps chill out a little bit. I don’t smoke weed but i think this might help.
By John, July 25, 2007 at 4:10 am # What are all you bleeding hearts going to do when you tax the tobacco business out of existence with your spend sombody else’s money? Will you be willing then to put up the money to solve someone else’s problem.(I don’t smoke)
By Rich, July 25, 2007 at 12:44 am # Amy get your facts right, you did not mention the Cigar Industry is the one which is unfairly singled out. Let’s bash Bush on another topic this one is a draconian tax that will not serve our kids. Cigar smokers will not buy as many or give-up cigars all together. Small business owners of Cigar bars will close it’s doors and producers of cigars will close it’s doors as well. I’m sure you guys welcome this, but ask yourselves if cigar smokers are hurting our kids, and the end result of this tax is that the revenue will not be available. Only alternative will be a blackmarket on Cigars inturn will get more cops on the street costing the tax payers money, more people in jail that costs more money. Maybe you guys want to pay for that as well? Target the real problem of America, obesity. Maybe a “fat tax” is in order, not Cigar Smokers!
By THOMAS BILLIS, July 24, 2007 at 11:07 pm # I say to hell with health insurance for kids and we lower the smoking age to ten only for anyone’s kids who is heartless enough to take the part of the cigarette companies over the health of kids.
By Thom, July 24, 2007 at 6:45 pm # I try...I really try to see both sides of every issue....and I really try to understand why. The only reason “why” I can come up with anymore is because the guy is a F-tard....apparently the colonoscopy removed what little was left of his heart and brain...good thing it was free for him....
By jbart, July 24, 2007 at 6:43 pm # Once again, the “holier than thou” president, the one expecting the people of our country to “back” his infamous “FAITH-BASED INIATIVES”, has shown himself to be full of s**t. His only faith, and the GOD he serves is “$$$$”. Nothing less, nothing more. He has NO sympathy for those in our society that needs just that, sympathy. But, what’s the worst aspect of his apathy to those in need, is his stupidity. I’m “sickened” that we, somehow, elected a “retarded” leader, and (worse) Commander-in-Chief”, one that doesn’t even have the sense to “know” just how stupid he really is. In less fortunate families, they know who is idiotic. I’m sure that the Bushes are aware that “Dubya’s” a family disgrace. But, they can’t admit that their genes “mutated” negatively. I, for one, wouldn’t trust this imbecile to cut my lawn properly. But, I’m expected to “trust” him to run my country? The world is “upside down” folks. We need to fix what we broke. Please, for all of us, vote/work for change. Not, a down the road sort of change”, but a real, long-lasting change. Get out and VOTE !! Spread the word, sad as it may be, to take our country back from those that have taken it away. We only have ourselves to fix it, or lose it to those that are purely self-serving. Those who will take advantage until there’s nothing of value worth saving. I, for one, will not just “go away”. I can only ask for support of community, and staying power. It’s worth the fight.
By Dale Headley, July 24, 2007 at 5:47 pm # My guess is that President Bush will veto this legislation, even if it appears to have a veto-proof majority. Why? Because he will not be a candidate again, and it is more important to him to please his rich friends in the tobacco and insurance industries who contributed to his last campaign than to ease the pain and suffering of people in need. George Bush doesn’t give a damn about ordinary people - only the people with money and power who pulled his strings. Add Your Comment |
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