LouDog
10-07-2007, 05:29 PM
This was written by, Mark (Shelby07 (http://www.cigarlive.com/forum/member.php?u=324)) from cigarlive.
Want to get even with all those folks who gave you bad luck because you didn’t forward their email to 10 people in 5 minutes? Here is something I wrote up that explains my feelings about SCHIP and takes the burden of the argument off of smokers. It is something that may help others understand why the proposed changes to SCHIP are a bad deal for everyone. If you feel so inclined, cut and paste the next message and email it out to everyone on your mailing list and ask them to forward it on. Yes, I hate getting this kind of stuff too, but if we’re going to get junk mail we might as well try to use it constructively.
I know we all hate getting meaningless spam in our mailboxes, but I feel compelled to write this and ask that you forward it to everyone you know. I am posting it on a few bulletin boards with the hope that people will cut and paste it and forward it to everyone on their mailing list.
It concerns the current SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) bill in the news that President Bush just vetoed and sent back to Congress. I’ll tell you right off the bat that I am against it for several reasons that I’m going to lay out here.
The bill is a great example of the type of stuff that is “feel good” legislation and adds to our country’s deficit and debt. It shows the danger of supporting something because it “sounds good” without understanding what it is all about. On the surface, it is a bill for our working poor and children; in reality it will place an undue burden on the very people it is touted to help, expand a socialist agenda, increase government spending and will put our country deeper in debt.
The current version of SCHIP provides funding for people who are earning a wage up to twice the current poverty level. This means that families of 4 making about $41,000 currently have the ability to apply for government aid to obtain health insurance. The help it provides now for those who truly need it did not go away with the President’s veto, and it will not go away in the future. Keep that in mind, because it is important to realize that if the current revisions to SCHIP gets approved it will not go away.
The proposed bill causing such a ruckus in the news wants to increase the income limit of those covered to 4 times the poverty level. That means that a family of 4 with an income of about $83K/year and currently paying for their own health insurance will suddenly have the ability to stop paying for it themselves and have the taxpayer (me and you) foot the bill. In addition “children” up to age 25 will be covered by this new version of the bill.
The bill is funded by an increase in tobacco taxes. Many of you will instinctively say “Good… smoking is bad and people need to be discouraged to smoke.” But let’s look at it a bit further…
Once the bill is law, there is no going back, just as there is no going back with current funding levels. In order to fund the bill, the government is depending on 22 MILLION new smokers. Who are these smokers? Typically the lower income earners who can least afford it. There are the very people that SCHIP is supposedly helping. In reality, the expanded health costs for the middle class are being placed squarely on the shoulders of the lower income wage earner.
Now let’s say this bill does pass. Once congress gets funding it doesn’t go away. What if the bill has a “positive” effect and the number of smokers goes down because of education, or just because people can’t afford to smoke any more? What if we don’t get our 22 million new smokers? Where will the money allocated for this program come from? You guessed it… the government will “borrow” it, which will increase our debt and the deficit.
The SCHIP fiasco is just another vehicle for political spin. To hear the mainstream media talk about it you would think that Bush just cut of the arms and legs of the poor children of our nation. But just because it has the word “Children” in it doesn’t mean that it’s going to help the children who need it. The bill is not about children; it is about political posturing and furthering a national health care plan. It increases entitlements to the middle class at the expense of the lower class and expands the intent of the bill beyond any reasonable or necessary level.
Please take a moment to think about this. If you agree and if this political posturing angers you as much as it does me, take a moment and call, email or write your representatives and let them know that this kind of nonsense has to stop. Let them know that you can see through their charade and you will be watching for this kind of nonsensical law making in the future. And let them know that if they expect to earn your vote during the next election cycle they need to stop being a part of the problem. They need to stop working for their party and start working for the people of this country who elected them to do just that.
Thank you for reading this.
Want to get even with all those folks who gave you bad luck because you didn’t forward their email to 10 people in 5 minutes? Here is something I wrote up that explains my feelings about SCHIP and takes the burden of the argument off of smokers. It is something that may help others understand why the proposed changes to SCHIP are a bad deal for everyone. If you feel so inclined, cut and paste the next message and email it out to everyone on your mailing list and ask them to forward it on. Yes, I hate getting this kind of stuff too, but if we’re going to get junk mail we might as well try to use it constructively.
I know we all hate getting meaningless spam in our mailboxes, but I feel compelled to write this and ask that you forward it to everyone you know. I am posting it on a few bulletin boards with the hope that people will cut and paste it and forward it to everyone on their mailing list.
It concerns the current SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) bill in the news that President Bush just vetoed and sent back to Congress. I’ll tell you right off the bat that I am against it for several reasons that I’m going to lay out here.
The bill is a great example of the type of stuff that is “feel good” legislation and adds to our country’s deficit and debt. It shows the danger of supporting something because it “sounds good” without understanding what it is all about. On the surface, it is a bill for our working poor and children; in reality it will place an undue burden on the very people it is touted to help, expand a socialist agenda, increase government spending and will put our country deeper in debt.
The current version of SCHIP provides funding for people who are earning a wage up to twice the current poverty level. This means that families of 4 making about $41,000 currently have the ability to apply for government aid to obtain health insurance. The help it provides now for those who truly need it did not go away with the President’s veto, and it will not go away in the future. Keep that in mind, because it is important to realize that if the current revisions to SCHIP gets approved it will not go away.
The proposed bill causing such a ruckus in the news wants to increase the income limit of those covered to 4 times the poverty level. That means that a family of 4 with an income of about $83K/year and currently paying for their own health insurance will suddenly have the ability to stop paying for it themselves and have the taxpayer (me and you) foot the bill. In addition “children” up to age 25 will be covered by this new version of the bill.
The bill is funded by an increase in tobacco taxes. Many of you will instinctively say “Good… smoking is bad and people need to be discouraged to smoke.” But let’s look at it a bit further…
Once the bill is law, there is no going back, just as there is no going back with current funding levels. In order to fund the bill, the government is depending on 22 MILLION new smokers. Who are these smokers? Typically the lower income earners who can least afford it. There are the very people that SCHIP is supposedly helping. In reality, the expanded health costs for the middle class are being placed squarely on the shoulders of the lower income wage earner.
Now let’s say this bill does pass. Once congress gets funding it doesn’t go away. What if the bill has a “positive” effect and the number of smokers goes down because of education, or just because people can’t afford to smoke any more? What if we don’t get our 22 million new smokers? Where will the money allocated for this program come from? You guessed it… the government will “borrow” it, which will increase our debt and the deficit.
The SCHIP fiasco is just another vehicle for political spin. To hear the mainstream media talk about it you would think that Bush just cut of the arms and legs of the poor children of our nation. But just because it has the word “Children” in it doesn’t mean that it’s going to help the children who need it. The bill is not about children; it is about political posturing and furthering a national health care plan. It increases entitlements to the middle class at the expense of the lower class and expands the intent of the bill beyond any reasonable or necessary level.
Please take a moment to think about this. If you agree and if this political posturing angers you as much as it does me, take a moment and call, email or write your representatives and let them know that this kind of nonsense has to stop. Let them know that you can see through their charade and you will be watching for this kind of nonsensical law making in the future. And let them know that if they expect to earn your vote during the next election cycle they need to stop being a part of the problem. They need to stop working for their party and start working for the people of this country who elected them to do just that.
Thank you for reading this.