Medical Insurance Help For the Children

The Sunday Houston Chronicle ran an AP story, States Expand Children's Health Coverage. (linked via title bar)

“The goal of the states is to allow more middle-class families to participate in the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The states are raising income limits so families once shut out because of their earnings now can qualify.”

The goodness of our hearts tells us that taking care of those in need is the right thing to do; stepping out on a limb, “What would Jesus Do?”, comes to mind. My cynical mind sees little red flags anytime an article starts off with “Help the Children”; call me skeptical. Children need to be taken care of and I’m sure they will be; but let’s examine what is being proposed before we all start sobbing for the underprivileged little kid with his empty bowl asking, “More, please, Sir”.

“When the program began a decade ago, states could offer coverage to families whose income was not more than double the federal poverty level. Today, for example, that threshold is $41,300 for a family of four. A few states use a Medicaid-based formula that lets them insure more children than under the income limit.”

“Already, 18 states exceed the 200 percent level, with federal permission. Five more, plus the District of Columbia, could join the list this year, according to a survey by Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families.”

I never considered myself poor back then, just prior to retiring from the police department with my family of five. I was making right about $40,000 from the City and never thought about asking the government for help, not ever. I had a portion of my income set aside for necessary expenses and lived on what was left; health insurance was part of the necessary expenses along with lots of other items that are not all that much fun.

Responsible folks build what’s called a budget and pay for the necessary items and then they consider extras like a fancy car, fancy clothing, a vacation and even what kind of food they plan to eat.

Now I know that the word budget is a four letter word in government, so they’ve used a “progressive dictionary” to alter its meaning, it now means nothing and so it doesn’t make them quite so uneasy when the numbers for money expected through taxation doesn’t come close to money promised in the form of entitlements. When that happens anything which comes up short or over can be passed on to some other generation who won’t mind.

Going back to that last quote, “Already, 18 states exceed the 200 percent level, with federal permission.” So why didn’t they just come out and say that in some states the poverty level is $82,600 a year for a family of four? I’m starting to wonder if we should start airlifting supplies for all those impoverished souls living from day to day with no hope of ever owning a new BMW.

“"State leaders are moving in a very different direction than the Bush administration is talking about," Guyer said. "They see that even moderate-income families increasingly find that coverage is simply unaffordable, and that it's appropriate to have some subsidy.””

Therein lies the problem with America, rather than take responsibility for managing and budgeting the funds available and acquired through individual efforts it has become increasingly more appropriate to have the government subsidize for the really important stuff like insurance for health care, prescription medicine or anything else that isn’t that much fun to pay for on your own. After all, if I can force my more wealthy neighbors, those born with a silver spoon in their mouths, those lucky ones who make way too much money and don’t deserve that much to begin with; if I can force them to help pay for my kids medical insurance then I might also be able to enjoy the good life.

The only way for a free people to remain free is to act responsibly. One of the rules of existence is approaching the breaking point; when a greater percentage of citizens line up looking for a hand out than the number of folks actively contributing to the public wallet then collapse is eminent. It’s time to shut off the free ride for those who are perfectly capable of carrying their own load; but they would prefer a lighter load at the expense of their neighbor.