This Entitlement Will Sink UsTruth About the SCHIP Bill Reauthorization

by Scott Garrett: The U.S. House . . . approved a $160 billion entitlement explosion, a $53 billion tax hike, relaxed rules for illegal immigrant access to federal benefits, and a package of Medicare cuts. With this they are saddling our children with extraordinary debt, and are doing so without my vote. All of this was rolled into a single bill: the so-called reauthorization of the SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program). . . . established under the premise that it would provide health insurance for children whose families were too wealthy to qualify for Medicaid, but too poor to afford private insurance. . . . the bill passed this week . . . expands it so dramatically that, if signed into law, two-thirds of the American people could end up under government-run health care. The Democrats' SCHIP bill is a thinly veiled effort to shift children – and . . . adults - from private health coverage to a government-run entitlement program.

Nationalized health care The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 2.1 million people who are currently covered by private health plans will be forced into this nationalized health care. We all know how efficiently the government runs the programs already in its authority . . . the Medicare hot line rang 42.2 million times last year and Medicare lost an estimated 3 % to 10 % of all its funding to waste, fraud, and abuse in 2006. . . .
- Unfair taxation Furthermore, there's almost no effort to hide this bulk transfer to nationalized health care. . . . the SCHIP bill balances the new entitlements on the backs of our nation's vulnerable seniors with $37.1 billion in cuts to Medicare providers. It makes cuts for hospital care, skilled nursing care, home health care, oxygen therapy and imaging. It even limits access to wheelchairs. And, . . . an estimated 3 million seniors will literally lose their coverage altogether . . .
- Paying for illegal immigrants . . . the SCHIP bill also forces the American taxpayer to pay for health benefits for illegal immigrants. It removes current safeguards meant to keep illegal immigrants from accessing SCHIP benefits, while simultaneously establishing mandatory $400 million expenditure for translation services for non-English-speaking enrollees. . . .
- The SCHIP bill is dangerous policy. it was brought to the floor . . . bypassing debate and committee review in an effort to cram it through the House . . . The president has said he will veto this bill. With a strong bipartisan vote against the bill of more than 200 representatives, his veto should stand. At that point, I hope the Democratic leadership will go back to the drawing board and formulate a reasonable proposal that protects children, seniors and taxpayers . . . [Read More]

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