Over an eight-year period - from 2000 to 2008 - children under the age of 18 lost employer-sponsored health insurance at a faster rate than adults, that's according to the EPI, which also points out the silver lining in this dismal news.
...the share of children with public coverage grew 8.8 percentage points, as compared to only a 3.5 percentage point increase for the adult population under 65. Public insurance in the form of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) provided a safety net source of insurance coverage for 23 million children in 2008.
That's a comforting thought. In the midst of the Great Recession, our children had health care because of programs like Medicaid and SCHIP, programs that Republicans have repeatedly tried to kill with their NO votes or by cuts in funding. And as successful as these programs have been, they still don't do enough.
While Medicaid provides coverage primarily to poor children and adults, SCHIP was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid. That said, there were still 7.3 million uninsured children and 38.3 million uninsured adults under age 65 in 2008.
We obviously can't trust Republicans with our children, or our own health care for that matter.
This year's first table of shame: Hoekstra, Camp and Rogers vote NO.
Stupak
D-1
Yes
Hoekstra
R-2
No
Ehlers
R-3
Yes
Camp
R-4
No
Kildee
D-5
Yes
Upton
R-6
Yes
Schauer
D-7
Yes
Rogers
R-8
No
Peters
D-9
Yes
Miller
R-10
Yes
McCotter
R-11
Yes
Levin
D-12
Yes
Kilpatrick
D-13
Yes
Conyers
D-14
Yes
Dingell
D-15
Yes
Oh, and on the motion to recommit - which is the minority party's effort to kill the bill, something different. Translation: Ehlers, Upton, Miller, and McCotter wanted to also vote no, but realized it was going to pass anyway and their voting record would look horseshit. Business as usual for the Republican members of the MI delegation.
GUEST OPINION Opposition to Knollenberg well founded Bruce Fealk of Rochester Hills, is a businessman and local political activist.
Last month the Oakland Press editorial board took me to task for my recent guest column about Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfi eld Hills. The board and Knollenberg’s professional letter writers focused entirely on the wrong issue. I wasn’t criticizing Knollenberg’s urging women to do self exams and to get their mammograms.
My point was the hypocrisy of Knollenberg sponsoring a health conference for women when he has such a terrible voting record on health issues. Knollenberg has a 0 rating from the National Breast Cancer Coalition and voted against expanding a successful government program that provides health care coverage for millions of low income children (SCHIP). Knollenberg did vote to extend the program. Even when the majority of his colleagues voted to expand the program to cover an additional 10 million children, Joe voted against it. The issue for millions of Americans is that they don’t have any health-care coverage. Families across Oakland County and this country live in fear that they will have a major health issue that they won’t be able to afford to get treated because they have no insurance. Knollenberg’s “wellness” proposal won’t help those people.
Oakland County residents are hurting because of $4 gas, lack of health coverage and an uncertain economy. The Bush/Knollenberg economy is a dismal failure.
Knollenberg should start talking about issues that really matter to Americans, like a health care program that makes it so that every American can take their children to a doctor. Health care should be a right in America, not a privilege of only wealthy congressmen and women.
Knollenberg should do something about the outrageous profits of America’s oil companies that ontinue to rip Americans off at the pump and the speculators that are driving prices up, regardless of supply.
He should think about what it does to our soldiers being sent into a war zone three, four and five times and what it does to their families.
Knollenberg should vote for funding to screen every soldier for posttraumatic stress disorder so we can try to prevent the unprecedented number of suicides being committed by our soldiers. He should vote to stop funding a war that our president lied us into and is charging hundredsof billions on our Bank of China credit card to support. Our great-great-grandchildren will be working to pay off that debt. Republicans have not been fiscally responsible.
Those are some of the real issues. Why isn’t Knollenberg talking about them? Why won’t Knollenberg come out in public and let his constituents ask him about his record n important issues and his plans to solve the problems facing them? Knollenberg has had almost 16 years to make the lives of his constituents better. My life isn’t one bit better.
Other people have noticed Knollenberg’s voting record on health care issues, too: 2007 American Academy of Family Physicians gave Knollenberg a 0 rating; 2007 Children’s Health Fund gave Knollenberg a 0 rating; 2006 American Public Health Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 rating; 2005-2006 AIDS Action Council rated Knollenberg with a 0 rating; and 2005-2006 American Nurses Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent. Those are failing grades in anyone’s book.
Disclaimer: I do not work for MoveOn.org or Knollenberg’s opponent.
Rochester held its 56th Annual Christmas Parade on Sunday, Deccember 2 and Joe NOllenGrinch was on the street with his message that Joe Knollenberg stole children's health care this Christmas. Joe didn't even show up for the parade this year. All his buddies were there, but no Joe. Another no show for Joe. I doubt he was missed though.
Now Joe is under attack from a group called Catholics United, who don't think Joe's vote on SCHIP is a pro-life position that they support. Finally, Joe is being held accountable by pro-life voters.
CLICK HEREto listen to the ad that is currently running
Press Release from Catholics United:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2007
Contact:
Chris Korzen
(202) 903-0856
ckorzen@catholics-united.org
Washington, DC - Catholics United will launch a radio advertising campaign targeting ten members of Congress whose opposition to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) have compromised their pro-life voting records.
The ads, which feature a mother urging her Congressional Representative to support SCHIP, will primarily air on Christian and talk radio stations from Monday Oct. 15 to Wednesday, Oct. 17 as Congress approaches a critical Oct. 18 vote to override President Bush's veto of bipartisan SCHIP legislation.
"Building a true culture of life requires public policies that promote the welfare of the most vulnerable," said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United. "At the heart of the Christian faith is a deep and abiding concern for the need of others. Pro-life Christians who serve in Congress should honor this commitment by supporting health care for poor children."
(Bumped with new YouTube video! - promoted by djtyg)
Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Livonia) is Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World today.
Each day Keith Olbermann, on his Show Countdown, selects a public figure and highlights their fool hearty actions or outrageous comments.
McCotter's comments
Catholics United is not a Catholic Church sanctioned organization; it is a Leftist political front group. No one should be fooled when this devil cites Scripture for his own purpose.
While President Bush and Republicans like Joe Knollenberg try to explain away why they won't vote to extend the State Children's Health Insurance Program real children with real health problems go without health care coverage and some will die.
CLICK HEREto watch NOW on PBS report on the crisis in children's health care.
I hope everyone in Joe Knollenberg's office will watch this report. I know you're watching this blog, so make good use of your time.
This is the Oakland Press version of my guest opinion about Joe Knollenberg's opposition to the SCHIP bill. It's been edited since I wrote it, but you get the point. The original headline was "Knollenberg to Michigan's Children: Drop Dead." Guess that was a little too truthful.
Trent Wisecup Bullying a Constituent
Keith Olbermann Covers Trent Wisecup's Outburst in Rochester
Right now Speaker Pelosi is in the middle of her weekly briefing, clarifying that the new version of SCHIP has addressed the concerns that goofballs like Hoekstra, Camp, Rogers, McCotter, and Knollenberg, have said were really good reasons for denying health care to children.
(Ok she didn't call them goofballs, but I believe in using the most accurate language)
Right now a number of House Republicans are trying to get out of voting on SCHIP today, using the excuse that it isn't right to vote while there's a fire in California. They are currently voting on a motion to adjourn, which will fail. Speaker Pelosi said that the House can multitask, and does not need to abandon the work of the people. Because of the way that the legislative calendar is laid out, the House needs to pass this legislation today so that the Senate can vote on it next week, and hopefully the President will sign.
This motion to adjourn is the 3rd or 4th procedural vote brought by the GOP, with the intention of getting out of voting on SCHIP. In other words, they are voting on a bunch of procedures designed to get them out of taking the time to vote on something.
I think this is really smart Republicanism and should be held up as a model to all public servants.
12:34 - Woo Hoo now they are debating on the actual SCHIP. 1 hour of debate. Louise Slaughter is up. "The memory of what took place here last week will not be forgotten. On that day we saw a number of people stay in lock step with the President to deny health care to children." (paraphrased)
"Make no mistake: 43 Governors, 60+ Senators, 200+ of my colleagues, and 81% of the American people supported the expansion of SCHIP. And yet faced with this overwhelming evidence, the President got out his veto pen ... and then the reprehensible smear attacks began ... "
Good stuff. I can't keep up. But I am recording.
Healthy children make a healthy nation.
Pete Sessions smears us
12:41 - Pete Sessions - "I rise in strong opposition to this rule ... there was not one co-sponsor of this bill in this body ... those that brought the bill forward said 'this is not my bill' ... I oppose the way this legislation has been brought to the floor ... what we have is a process that has been politicized over & over again by the new Democrat majority ... " Blah blah yada yada Democrat instead of Democratic nuttery. Democrats aren't being fair. They're doing what we did to them when we were the majority and they promised not to treat us like that! wah.
And now he goes on to say that the three clarifications by the Democratic majority are proof that we were covering illegal immigrants. "I ask all of my colleagues to oppose this bill." Suck it, Pete.
12:49Nancy Pelosi - "My highest praise goes to the Republicans .. without them, we wouldn't even have SCHIP. Senator Orin Hatch really is the father of SCHIP." ... "10 years ago, under a Democratic President, President Clinton, and a Republican Congress, SCHIP became the law of the land." ... "The clarity sought by the Republicans, are improvements ... I hesitate to even repeat the charge, because it was so untrue and it was known to be untrue ... but the fact is now .. there is a cap to the income. The second issue, the undocumented ... they were not allowed to receive it, it was clear in the first bill, it's even clearer now in the second. The third is the adults. In the interest of the children, it was clarified and scaled back to one year. ... but I have to insist that Governors be allowed to cover pregnant women ..."
The House tweaked the SCHIP bill to address some of the concerns Bush and other Republicans used as an excuse to vote against the program. They hope to vote on it again today. Here are some of the changes:
It clarifies the language on the claim that was made that people making $83,000 a year could receive SCHIP; that was patently not true, and it is clarified in the legislation that it is not so.
It addresses who is eligible for the legislation and clearly defines eligibility and that does not include illegal aliens. They are not entitled to benefits. In fact, you cannot get benefits in our country unless you have been here for five years and legally so. The bill makes that very clear.
The third category of complaint was that more adults were receiving the benefits than should and the previous legislation phased out adults receiving benefits over two years. Those are adults that are members of families that are receiving SCHIP. Over one year this new bill will phase out those adults without children who are eligible to receive these benefits in some states, as they have received the opportunity to do so in the past.
I'm not too optimistic this revised bill will pass. Bush - and those Republicans who still fall in line behind him (see the men on the right sidebar) - will find some excuse to vote against it. Maybe they'll use the same excuse as before, that people who aren't really eligible will be helped by the program and waste taxpayer money. Considering the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, that argument seems pretty weak.
Actually, the president's war has created a whole new class of welfare queens that we should be more concerned about - private contractors - and Erik Prince Is the 21st Century Cadillac Queen according to this blogger:
Reagan's welfare Cadillac queen was a myth. Prince and his company are shamefully real.
Prince's Blackwater is shamefully real, but so are the 47 million uninsured children and adults in this country. The way I see it, this vote will paint a clear picture of where their priorities lie. What will it be Republicans - help for uninsured children or more wingnut welfare?
(Welcome back, Senator Schauer. We regret that it is under such unfortunate circumstances.
BFM readers - note that there are links to videos of floor statements at the end of this article. - promoted by Christine)
Ever since President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill earlier this month, Senate Democrats have been fighting to continue this critical program that would provide health-insurance coverage for 80,000 Michigan children.
A week ago our caucus introduced SR 117, a resolution urging Congress to override President Bush's veto of the children's health insurance program. That same day the Michigan House voted on HR 201, a similar resolution which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support by a vote of 72-34.
For the past week Michigan Democrats have been leading a full-court press against Michigan Representatives Camp, Hoekstra, Knollenberg, McCotter, Rogers and Walberg, urging them to join their Republican colleagues Vern Ehlers, Candice Miller and Fred Upton in supporting the SCHIP program.
Last Monday, Gov. Granholm and Rep. John Dingell held a town hall meeting in Detroit featuring dozens of families who have benefited from the insurance program. That same day, Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) and I stood with local health experts in Ann Arbor to urge support for children's health insurance. Since then, Senate Democrats have met regularly with constituents and local officials in an effort to build public support for this important health care program.
During today's session, Democratic Floor Leader Buzz Thomas moved to discharge this important resolution from the Appropriations Committee so the full Senate could consider the measure. We knew time was of the essence, since the Congress was preparing to vote just a few hours later on the override of President Bush's veto.
I spoke out in support of the motion to discharge SR 117 this morning, but when it finally came up for a vote, Senate Republicans voted along party lines to delay consideration of the discharge for a day. This meant we couldn't even debate the merits of the resolution until at least a day after it was too late to influence Congress.
The State Senate has made a number of tough votes in recent weeks, but this should not have been one of them. For an issue that has such strong bipartisan support across the country, it is incredibly frustrating and disappointing that Michigan's Senate Republicans refused to join our effort to insure 80,000 Michigan children today.
RE: Dave Camp, MI04
I just called the Midland office and said, "Camp voted NO on SCHIP?" And she said, "I'll transfer you to the DC office where they will talk to you about that."
So they transferred me to DC, and I said, "He just voted No on SCHIP?" and he said "Mhmm." And I said, "It protected critically wounded troops and children." And the guy said "Mmhmm." And I said, "I know he doesn't care because he's a safe seat, but I am disgusted." And the guy said, "I'll let him know you called."
So by this time, the guy had been so apathetic that I just gave up. "I'm sure you will." And I hung up on him.
I never hang up on people. That's how disgusted I am with Camp's employees.
When I worked for US Rep Bob Carr, we never treated constituents like that after a vote. We explained votes to them, we let them yell at us, and we at least tried to get their contact information.
Just came in on Nancy Pelosi's statement on SCHIP. Wish I had been able to record it because what I saw was excellent. For starters, she clears up the lies on the illegal immigrants ... "illegals do not get federal benefits."
She also said that the President is isolated, and that 82% of America supports SCHIP. This required great sacrifice on the part of the Democrats because we wanted a much higher amount. We compromised.
Everyone is saying is that Democrats are about 15 votes short to override the veto. Right now they're roll calling, because they need 2/3 of those who are present, not 2/3 of the total members.
Since the miserable pricks think Bush is more important than children, let's hope that McCotter, Knollenberg, Camp, and Walberg are absent today.
1:04pm: 6 minutes 50 seconds left, the vote is 127 Yes to 78 No.
1:07: Lots of calls coming in about how Cheney & Bush are millionaires living in govt housing w/govt health care, but why not our poor kids? Vote is 189 to 103, 2 minutes, 58 seconds left.
1:12: Time remaining is 0:00 but votes are still coming in. Currently 251 to 146.
1:14: 263 to 153. Don't know how long the vote will remain open.
1:16 273 to 156. There are 2 Dem NO votes and 3 Dems not voting. 44 GOP YES votes and 2 GOP not voting.
1:17 vote is called, override fails.
1:28: Roy Blunt is asking how the Democratic majority intends to move forward. Democratic response is "we are serious about extending coverage to children ... I think as long as we can maintain the intentions to cover the additional 10,000,000 children, we can discuss anything else."
Blunt - "If we can now get into a situation where we can do what the majority of the House said we wanted to do ... we don't want SCHIP to go out of existence, but we want to make sure it's meeting the goals of the program, and any efforts we can make to work together, that would be helpful. We lost 2 weeks that we could have been talking, but that's behind us"
So basically, Blunt is trying to get political cover for the Republicans who voted against health care for children. 'We support health care for kids as long as it isn't what you want'
Horror of horrors. McCotter tells us that SCHIP also has adult enrollees. What he forgets neglects to point out is that most of those adults are pregnant women.
I'll just bet that McCotter's wife had pre-natal care when she was pregnant. And you know what, that health care was paid for by your tax dollars. As a legislator McCotter receives health care as one of his benefits.
So let's get this straight. Health care for McCotter's wife paid for by the government. OK. Health care for female and her fetus paid for by the government, if she otherwise has no insurance and makes less than 185% of the poverty level. Not OK.
McCotter is anti-abortion but won't do anything to help a woman and a fetus get proper health care. A fetus is a child when he talks about abortion. A fetus is not a child when it comes to health care. Is it just me, or do you see a huge disconnect too?
Yes, there are some other adults besides pregnant women that are covered. But, those people have some horrible health problems such as cystic fibrosis, or blood coagulation disorders. Is it really so horrible that they receive health care? How about those veterans that Christine wrote about this morning?
And as for McCotter's assertion that adults will drop their private insurance and enroll in SCHIP - based on what Thad?
Fact is insurers are forcing people to drop coverage due to rising premiums. McCotter spins it as if there is no means test. There is. He also spins it as if there is no waiting period to enroll. There is. It's six months.
Call your Congressman now. They still haven't voted.
Five Democrats have indicated they will change their minds and vote yes when the House attempts to override Bush's SCHIP veto today. No Republicans have changed their minds. They still remain out of touch with what Americans want.
A new CBS News poll finds an overwhelming majority of Americans (8 in 10) support legislation that would expand the children's health insurance program, including large majorities of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, and they'd even be willing to pay more in taxes to see that happen.
These are the questions they were asked:
WOULD YOU FAVOR OR OPPOSE EXPANDING S-CHIP?
Favor - 81%
Oppose - 15%
WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PAY MORE TAXES TO EXPAND S-CHIP? (Among those who favor expanding S-CHIP)
Yes - 74%
No - 17%
In a press conference yesterday, Bush said he was relevant. He's not relevant and neither are the Republicans who continue to vote with him and against the wishes of their constituents. Here in Michigan, that includes Dave Camp, Peter Hoekstra, Joe Knollenberg, Thaddeus McCotter, Mike Rogers, and Tim Walberg.
In fact, their actions are beyond relevant. Laughable is how the Freep describes Republican efforts to naysay the SCHIP expansion program. They go on to say that conservatives have been blowing a lot of smoke and distorting a lot of facts. In other words, they're using children to play their games of politics.
If the Republicans vote no today, they're not only irrelevant, they don't deserve to be in office.
A little known fact about the State Children's Health Insurance Program is that the legislation that would extend it, also protects our wounded veterans. There are two provisions in the bill that protect our critically wounded troops.
Two elements of SCHIP impact the families of wounded troops. The first provision, known as the ''Support for Injured Servicemembers Act," would allow up to six months of leave for family members who serve as primary caregivers of combat-wounded service members. Currently, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides only up to three months of coverage. The second portion, ''Military Family Job Protection Act,'' prohibits employment discrimination against these family members by protecting their employment, promotion, and benefits for up to one year. The provisions can be found under Subtitle C, sections 621 and 622.
