GranolaBox

This is from a moveon.org email I got today.

Our president appears to have declared war on uninsured children.

Late last Friday evening—when it was guaranteed to get almost no news coverage—the Bush administration made it virtually impossible for states to improve health care coverage for uninsured kids.

Among other things, states that want to cover more kids will now have to require a them to go one year without insurance before they can get health care. (I guess you just tell your four year-old not to get sick or hurt for the next 365 days.)

Our best chance to fix this mess will come in September, when Congress takes up the children’s health care bill. We need to make sure it passes by a wide margin and then shame Bush into signing it—or generate enough support to override his veto.

Bush says expanding health care coverage for kids would “federalize medicine”1—and to avoid that, he’s willing to let kids go without health care. (You have to wonder about a president who opposes waiting periods for gun buyers2 but thinks children should have to go a full year without insurance to get health care.)

The new policy is basically aimed at high-cost-of-living states. Even as the federal government drags its feet, these states have been trying to cover kids whose families are above the federal poverty line but still can’t afford health insurance. The rules announced on Friday would basically make it impossible to extend coverage to those families.3

The good news is the president is way out of step with the American people. The Children’s Health Insurance Program is very popular. It expires in September, and already both houses of Congress have passed bills to reauthorize and expand it. The Democratic proposal actually passed the Senate with a veto-proof majority! But the president is trying to torpedo the expansion, and pressing other Republicans to back his position.

In September, the House and Senate will vote on a final conference bill. We need to make sure the president and Congress are feeling the heat on this—encourage Democratic leaders to hold the line, and make sure Republicans know that if they vote against giving children health care, the public is going to know about it.

So we’re putting together a hard-hitting campaign. We’re considering ads, local events with kids, phone calls, letters, and other creative tactics.

Editor’s note: If you’d like to help move on with this campaign, click here.

Filed under: Politics on August 25th, 2007