Children Will Have Insurance Come What May, Say Democrats

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Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Public Health
Article Date: 14 Oct 2007 - 12:00 PDT

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As efforts are focused to assemble enough votes to eliminate a veto on a children's health program, Democrat leaders said that they will find a way to make sure millions of uninsured will get cover even if the veto is not overridden.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer admitted that the Republicans may gather enough votes to defend President George Bush's veto for the showdown next Thursday. They pledged to pass another bipartisan bill if they had to.

Pelosi said "We'll try very hard to override it. But one thing's for sure: We won't rest until those 10 million children have health care."

Hoyer said that this is a defining moment for the Republicans. He stressed that the program is not going to die. He said they would go back and pass another bill.

Legislation that would have raised spending for SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) by $35 billion over a five-year period was vetoed by G Bush, who wanted just a $5 billion rise. For his veto to be overridden a two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate are needed. The Senate vote looks OK for overriding the veto, but not the House.

The aim of the proposal is to provide insurance for the children of families who earn too much to get Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance. In Bush's opinion it is too much money. Bush has hinted he may be willing to up his $5 billion proposal - however, he insists the current proposal places too much of the health insurance onus on the state instead of private providers.

Among the developed world, the USA has by far the highest proportion of its population without any insurance cover at all - estimates place the total number of uninsured Americans at between 45 million and 50 million. Many of these are middle class Americans. Countries such as the United Kingdom provide free, universal health care for all; the UK spends just 6% of its Gross Domestic Product on health, compared to the USA which spends around 14%. When compared to Western Europe and Japan, infant mortality, life expectancy and scores of other health statistics in the USA look alarmingly poor.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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