Just 11 days ago, the WaPo’s Christopher Lee noted, “If anything looked like a sure thing in the new Congress, it was that lawmakers would renew, and probably expand, the popular, decade-old State Children’s Health Insurance Program before it expires this year.” It’s a no-brainer, right? Who’s going to balk at an established, successful program that offers health insurance for kids?
Well, first the president balked, saying expanding healthcare access for children in middle-class families ran counter to his ideology, and he would therefore veto the bill. As recently as three days ago, the LA Times reported that bipartisan support for S-CHIP expansion was so strong, proponents of the bill believed they could likely override a veto.
Not anymore. As part of a reminder of why congressional Republicans lost their majorities, a handful of top GOP leaders have decided to align themselves with Bush and against healthcare for children.
Republican leaders of the House and Senate on Tuesday attacked proposals that call for a major expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, to be financed with higher tobacco taxes.
“Republicans will fight these proposals,” said the House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio.
In an unexpected turn of events, the top two Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Trent Lott of Mississippi, said they opposed a bipartisan bill that the Senate Finance Committee approved last week and would offer an alternative on the Senate floor.
Boehner’s quote was quite a gem: “Dragging people out of private health insurance to put them into a government-run program is ‘Hillary care’ come back.”
Now, I suspect Boehner knows how dumb this is, but just for the fun of it, let’s unpack it a bit.
The House Minority Leader is worried about people being “dragged” out of a private system and into a public system. But no one’s being dragged to or from anything — it would be a competitive marketplace. The GOP loves competition, right? Middle-class families with children would only give up on a private plan if they thought a public plan would better suit their needs.
In other words, a family might find that a public healthcare plan offered better care for less money and decide, “You know, maybe this isn’t such a bad idea.” But that’s not “dragging,” it’s offering an alternative. Boehner is apparently worried that his preferred approach might lose. I can’t imagine why.
So, what is it, exactly, that Boehner is whining about? He either a) doesn’t know what he’s talking about; b) puts ideology over children’s health; or c) callously wants to deny Dems a legislative victory, even at the expense of healthy kids. (Or, I suppose, d) some combination thereof.)
House Dems seem to have their suspicions about which explanation is the right one.
Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, a leading proponent of the House bill, said: “For the longest time, I was mystified why Republicans would oppose expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program to kids who are eligible but not enrolled. Now I realize. They are trying to deny us a political victory. They want to be able to say that Democrats can’t get anything done.
“Unfortunately,” Ms. DeGette said, “Republicans are pursuing this strategy on the backs of poor children.”
They are a shameless right-wing bunch, aren’t they?