nebraskas reps vote against children

Nebraska's Reps Vote Against Children.

Tonight, the House of Representatives voted on passage of the

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, also

known as the SCHIP Bill. This bill would continue the coverage of 6

million children already in the program, and would permit an

additional 4 million children who are eligible, but hadn't been

previously covered due to lack of funding. These are the children of

working families who are not eligible for Medicaid because they make

too much, but who are not covered through their employers, or they

don't make enough to afford paying for their own health insurance.

These are people with incomes at 100-300% above the poverty rates.

This bill was actually put together within the Senate, primarily by

Republican members, including Senators Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley:

"This legislation will get the Children's Health Insurance Program

back on track and reclaim precious resources for low-income kids,"

Grassley said Friday regarding the deal that congressional

negotiators had reached. "It breaks the legislative impasse and

should have strong support from both Democrats and Republicans."

Hatch said he was sympathetic to some of the president's concerns

that SCHIP not become a "one-size fits all" government program.

However, he described the deal as a "true compromise" between

Democrats and Republicans in both chambers and expressed the hope

that the president would work with Congress.

Despite their statements, President Bush has vowed he will veto it.

The funding in the House version had been through taking money from

the Medicare Advantage program. As many will recall, our Nebraska

Representatives felt that was not the way to go and voted against the

House version. The new funding method, instead, is through an increase

on taxes on tobacco products.

During the debate, there were several claims from House Republicans

that were ridicules. They said it didn't prohibit payments to illegal

immigrants. However, the bill does just that. They just don't like the

wording, which does NOT say "prohibited", but rather "not allowed".

They felt this was just a stepping stone to government-ran socialized

medicine. But actually, this is a form of a block grant, which the

states then use to contract with private insurance companies to run.

In Nebraska, that company is Magellan.

They made claims that adults were covered. However, in some states,

they provide coverage for some people up to age 21. In Nebraska, for

example, children placed into subsidized guardianships or adoptions

(former state wards not reunified with their parents) get covered up

to age 19. The US age of majority is 18, but the age of majority in

Nebraska is 19. Mentally disabled children will get help through the

schools and the state until age 21. These are an example of some of

the "adults" they are talking about.

In the Senate, the bill passed on a vote of 68-32.

Senator Chuck Hagel voted against it, while Senator Ben Nelson voted

for it.

Tonight, in the House, the final vote was 265-159-1-8.

FOR: 220 Democrats, 45 Republicans

AGAINST: 8 Democrats, 151 Republicans

PRESENT: 1 Democrat

NO VOTE: 3 Democrats, 5 Republicans

Nebraska Congressmen Adrian Smith, Lee Terry and Jeff Fortenberry all

voted against it.

To put it another way, they decided that the children covered in

Nebraska, and the additional 40% of children that don't have coverage

and are eligible in this state, cannot have health insurance coverage.

The current SCHIP Program expires on September 30, 2007.

The final House vote is not a veto-proof vote. Unless a temporary

extension of the current program is approved and signed, those 6

million children current covered (including approximately 45,000 in

Nebraska) will lose their health coverage at the end of the week.

Now here's the irony: This bill was supported not only by the American

Medical Association, but also by the medical insurance lobbying

groups. Also, in July, Georgetown University released the results of a

poll they conducted. They found:

Continuing to allow SCHIP to cover low-income, working uninsured

parents of children enrolled in SCHIP: Eighty-four percent of the

public favors allowing low-income, uninsured working parents of

children in SCHIP to be covered by the program when they do not

have coverage through their job, including 75 percent of

Republicans, 87 percent of Independents, 88 percent of Democrats.

Just who the hell do Adrian Smith, Lee Terry, Jeff Fortenberry and

Chuck Hagel think they are representing??

Our children are our future. They are our national treasure. Their

health shouldn't even be a question. The votes of our Representatives

reek of self interest and a complete lack of understanding of the

needs of real Nebraskans.