sonuvabum
Boobies...'cause I likes 'em
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2007
- Messages
- 1,799
I submitted a letter to our local paper today here in Fort Worth. I don't know if they will publish it but they have posted my work before. I thought I'd share. Feel free to use this as a basis for your own effort if you are so inclined.
If nothing else, it made me feel better.
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SCHIP Does Not Make Sense
With the recent bill being signed into law that extends SCHIP health benefits to the masses, I have to wonder about the sanity of congress in general. Somebody please explain the logic to me about how you can fund and expand a liberal spending program with a dwindling income source. It’s fuzzy congressional math I guess.
The feds are raising taxes on most tobacco products and supposedly widening the reach of federally subsidized health insurance to include an additional 4 or 5 million kiddos. How can you lose with a proposition like this? Benes for the kids while you tax the mean spirited, ugly, smelly smokers. Everybody should be on board with that, right?
There are problems however with the logic. First of all, states have a lot of latitude in determining ‘who for’ and how this money is spent by establishing requirements, guidelines, etc. So, no one really knows how many more kids, or in some cases adults too, will really benefit from this expanded program. Some guess-timates put the number at around 4 million kids, some are twice that and include adults as well. Bottom line is no one really knows.
Another problem for individual states is that in order to take advantage of the SCHIP expanded funding, the states have to match dollars to the tune of about 28%. The feds are saying they plan to increase funding by almost $33 billion dollars and if the state have to match 28%, that number now becomes something way north of $40 billion. Given that we are talking about 4 million additional kids in the program, that works out to about $10,000 per kid, per year. Remember, we are not talking about the total program here, we’re talking about additional funding and additional enrollment. Combine this with the budget shortfalls that many states are experiencing these day and this does not compute, at least not for me.
Now here is part I really don’t understand; the backers of this plan intend to fund this program with new or expanded taxes on tobacco products. A tax that they readily agree will increase the cost of smoking to the point that some will consider quiting or will actually give up the habit. They look at this as a positive. From a business perspective however, I see it as a diminishing revenue source. Combine this with all the anti-smoking legislation going around these days and again, this does not compute.
So to try and bring all this together, we have the Dems selling us a healthcare bill for under privileged children that taxes tobacco users, principally smokers, who are for the large part, poor and under privileged themselves and who will thereby be less able to purchase tobacco products and who may ultimately quit completely, which some argue is a good thing, all the while leaving a bloated program woefully under-funded. Whew! Now that makes sense to me! Right?
No, what we really have here is a piece of legislation that looks good and sounds good, but really stinks. It’s top heavy. The numbers are absurd on a per capita basis. It’s supporters not only admit that they expect their funding source to diminish, they welcome it. At least they get to feel good about it I suppose. Well to me, it doesn’t make sense. I don’t need to guess where the funding will ultimately come from. I know where it will come from, and I suspect you do too.
GK-FW
If nothing else, it made me feel better.
=====================================
SCHIP Does Not Make Sense
With the recent bill being signed into law that extends SCHIP health benefits to the masses, I have to wonder about the sanity of congress in general. Somebody please explain the logic to me about how you can fund and expand a liberal spending program with a dwindling income source. It’s fuzzy congressional math I guess.
The feds are raising taxes on most tobacco products and supposedly widening the reach of federally subsidized health insurance to include an additional 4 or 5 million kiddos. How can you lose with a proposition like this? Benes for the kids while you tax the mean spirited, ugly, smelly smokers. Everybody should be on board with that, right?
There are problems however with the logic. First of all, states have a lot of latitude in determining ‘who for’ and how this money is spent by establishing requirements, guidelines, etc. So, no one really knows how many more kids, or in some cases adults too, will really benefit from this expanded program. Some guess-timates put the number at around 4 million kids, some are twice that and include adults as well. Bottom line is no one really knows.
Another problem for individual states is that in order to take advantage of the SCHIP expanded funding, the states have to match dollars to the tune of about 28%. The feds are saying they plan to increase funding by almost $33 billion dollars and if the state have to match 28%, that number now becomes something way north of $40 billion. Given that we are talking about 4 million additional kids in the program, that works out to about $10,000 per kid, per year. Remember, we are not talking about the total program here, we’re talking about additional funding and additional enrollment. Combine this with the budget shortfalls that many states are experiencing these day and this does not compute, at least not for me.
Now here is part I really don’t understand; the backers of this plan intend to fund this program with new or expanded taxes on tobacco products. A tax that they readily agree will increase the cost of smoking to the point that some will consider quiting or will actually give up the habit. They look at this as a positive. From a business perspective however, I see it as a diminishing revenue source. Combine this with all the anti-smoking legislation going around these days and again, this does not compute.
So to try and bring all this together, we have the Dems selling us a healthcare bill for under privileged children that taxes tobacco users, principally smokers, who are for the large part, poor and under privileged themselves and who will thereby be less able to purchase tobacco products and who may ultimately quit completely, which some argue is a good thing, all the while leaving a bloated program woefully under-funded. Whew! Now that makes sense to me! Right?
No, what we really have here is a piece of legislation that looks good and sounds good, but really stinks. It’s top heavy. The numbers are absurd on a per capita basis. It’s supporters not only admit that they expect their funding source to diminish, they welcome it. At least they get to feel good about it I suppose. Well to me, it doesn’t make sense. I don’t need to guess where the funding will ultimately come from. I know where it will come from, and I suspect you do too.
GK-FW