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Expert
Comments: Starting Over on
SCHIP
Reauthorization
(Chicago, Illinois - October 19, 2007) Yesterday's
unsuccessful attempt by Congress to override President George W. Bush's
veto of the proposed $35 billion SCHIP expansion marked a critical moment
in preventing the federalization of health care. Now, all parties return
to the reauthorization drawing board.
The
following comments are from Kate Campaigne, legislative specialist at The
Heartland Institute; Trevor Martin, director of government relations for
The Heartland Institute; and Steve Stanek, a Heartland research fellow and
managing editor of Budget & Tax
News, a monthly Heartland
publication.
You
may quote from this statement or contact Campaigne, Martin, or Stanek
directly for further comment.
"As
the President and Congress return to deliberate a new SCHIP bill, they
must concentrate on forming a program that accomplishes SCHIP's original
goal: Cover poor children in families who earn too much to qualify for
Medicaid and too little to afford private
coverage.
"Reauthorization should focus on (1) reducing the
number of children who are eligible for coverage but do not receive it;
(2) restructuring SCHIP subsidies to allow and encourage families to
purchase private insurance so families can decide what health insurance
best fits their children's needs; (3) eliminating the federal-state
matching formula for SCHIP funding; (4) fixing the incentives that
encourage states to enroll higher-income SCHIP children instead of poorer
Medicaid children; and (5) making sure SCHIP remains a capped funding
program--not allowing it to morph into another entitlement program like
Medicaid."
Kate
Campaigne
[email protected]
Legislative
Specialist - Health and Welfare
"Taxes on tobacco products are already high, and
structured in such a way so as to be not only unfair to smokers, but also
(and especially) to the poor.
"Tobacco taxes are, by their nature, a declining
source of revenue, thanks to government's insistence that the number of
tobacco users decrease. Ironically, governments continue to rely upon the
revenue generated from this dwindling group of
taxpayers.
"Raising taxes to fund a program whose funding
allocation is already misspent is not sound public policy. For example,
some states allow SCHIP participation for families with incomes up to
$72,000 ... and 14 states allow adults to
participate."
Trevor
Martin
[email protected]
Government
Relations Director
"People need to stop listening to the demagoguery
and look at the facts. One key fact is this: The Congressional Budget
Office estimates 50 percent of new SCHIP funds would go to children in
families who already have private insurance. Many economists say the
figure could be even higher. This SCHIP expansion aims to subsidize
solidly middle-income families who already have insurance for their
children. It is not aimed at children in working-poor families as the
SCHIP program was intended.
"Furthermore, it is absurd to enact government
programs that rely on smoking tax revenue even as tax and health policies
discourage smoking. The CBO and U.S. Treasury Department have estimated a
revenue loss to the states of $1.07 billion to $1.2 billion a year, as the
higher price for cigarettes cuts consumption and prompts smokers to choose
low-cost off-brands or turn to black
markets."
Steve
Stanek
[email protected]
Research
Fellow
Managing Editor, Budget
& Tax News
For
further information about The Heartland Institute, please contact
Harriette Johnson, media relations manager, at 312/377-4000 or email [email protected]. | 