Every American Insured Health Act
The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is currently under review on Capitol Hill. This federal entitlement was initially intended to protect the children of families whose incomes were less than $40,000. Through loopholes, the states have exploited the program to include families with incomes as high as $82,000. Plus, they have creatively managed to enroll childless parents.
The Democrats are now demanding the entitlement parameters of SCHIP be expanded to include all the children of families whose incomes are up to 400% above the poverty line, which is about $80,000 a year. If passed, savvy parents with family health coverage, would immediately remove their children from their private medical insurance policies and let the government pickup the cost.
Of course, this is the Democrats’ goal—expand national healthcare, and marginalize the private healthcare insurance industry. The liberals have included eligibility for illegal aliens in this proposed legislation and raised the age of entitled children to 24. Their bill would also grant illegal aliens unrestricted access to Medicare.
The Democrats have brilliantly camouflaged the march toward national healthcare by centering the proposed legislation on children’s health. The Republicans find themselves in a political quandary. They don’t want to vote against helping children, and like most Americans, they realize that government controlled healthcare is a prescription for second-rate medicine.
Removing some of the more erroneous aspects of the bill, such as lowering family income eligibility or the age of eligible children, doesn’t stop the march of socialized healthcare.
Simultaneously, the Democrats are blocking the Republican, revenue-neutral efforts to reform healthcare with refundable tax credits and “vouchers” for the poor. Richard Burr (R-NC) and four other Republican representatives wrote and proposed the Every American Insured Health Act (S. 1886). It should be noted that President Bush, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT), and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) support refundable, medical tax credits.
This legislative proposal would reduce the number of uninsured by about 24 million people. In effect, every American would receive a tax credit (money) to purchase medical insurance. Individuals would receive about $2200 and families about $5400. They would be free to select any private, medical insurance provider they wanted, tailored to their needs.
How is this revenue neutral? By changing the tax code! Rather than allowing deductions for private medical insurance and expenses (which reduces government revenues), the Burr bill simply contributes funds for the individual’s or family’s medical insurance. Of course, businesses providing healthcare benefits to employees could continue to deduct the expense.
The states are heavily burdened by the cost of medical treatment for the poor. Under the Burr bill, the federal government would reimburse the states for provisioning the poor with medical insurance. The reimbursement would require states to open their borders to all American insurance providers, eliminating the current gaggle of anti-competitive, inter-state regulations.
Additionally, small businesses could join buying pools, giving them the advantage of volume discounts. Depending on the source, these two measures will reduce the cost of medical coverage in the US by 20% to 30%.
The poor would not be eligible for coverage if they were enrolled in Medicare, the Federal Employees Benefits program, the military healthcare system or an employer sponsored health plan. However, nothing would prohibit those enrolled in these programs from changing to government reimbursed private medical insurance programs.
That’s why the Democrats despise the Burr bill. Within ten to twenty years, all government medical entitlements could easily disappear.
The Democrats are now demanding the entitlement parameters of SCHIP be expanded to include all the children of families whose incomes are up to 400% above the poverty line, which is about $80,000 a year. If passed, savvy parents with family health coverage, would immediately remove their children from their private medical insurance policies and let the government pickup the cost.
Of course, this is the Democrats’ goal—expand national healthcare, and marginalize the private healthcare insurance industry. The liberals have included eligibility for illegal aliens in this proposed legislation and raised the age of entitled children to 24. Their bill would also grant illegal aliens unrestricted access to Medicare.
The Democrats have brilliantly camouflaged the march toward national healthcare by centering the proposed legislation on children’s health. The Republicans find themselves in a political quandary. They don’t want to vote against helping children, and like most Americans, they realize that government controlled healthcare is a prescription for second-rate medicine.
Removing some of the more erroneous aspects of the bill, such as lowering family income eligibility or the age of eligible children, doesn’t stop the march of socialized healthcare.
Simultaneously, the Democrats are blocking the Republican, revenue-neutral efforts to reform healthcare with refundable tax credits and “vouchers” for the poor. Richard Burr (R-NC) and four other Republican representatives wrote and proposed the Every American Insured Health Act (S. 1886). It should be noted that President Bush, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT), and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) support refundable, medical tax credits.
This legislative proposal would reduce the number of uninsured by about 24 million people. In effect, every American would receive a tax credit (money) to purchase medical insurance. Individuals would receive about $2200 and families about $5400. They would be free to select any private, medical insurance provider they wanted, tailored to their needs.
How is this revenue neutral? By changing the tax code! Rather than allowing deductions for private medical insurance and expenses (which reduces government revenues), the Burr bill simply contributes funds for the individual’s or family’s medical insurance. Of course, businesses providing healthcare benefits to employees could continue to deduct the expense.
The states are heavily burdened by the cost of medical treatment for the poor. Under the Burr bill, the federal government would reimburse the states for provisioning the poor with medical insurance. The reimbursement would require states to open their borders to all American insurance providers, eliminating the current gaggle of anti-competitive, inter-state regulations.
Additionally, small businesses could join buying pools, giving them the advantage of volume discounts. Depending on the source, these two measures will reduce the cost of medical coverage in the US by 20% to 30%.
The poor would not be eligible for coverage if they were enrolled in Medicare, the Federal Employees Benefits program, the military healthcare system or an employer sponsored health plan. However, nothing would prohibit those enrolled in these programs from changing to government reimbursed private medical insurance programs.
That’s why the Democrats despise the Burr bill. Within ten to twenty years, all government medical entitlements could easily disappear.
posted by David at
7:39 AM
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