Friday, October 05, 2007
THE BRITISH ARE COMING! SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS COMING!
The British are coming! The British are coming!
We imagine that these words were shouted by Paul Revere, as he rode through the night to warn his fellow colonists of peril.
In fact, Paul probably did not shout these words, but had as many as forty comrades helping to pass the word. There was likely no shouting of warnings, but rather knocks on doors and whispering of the news. Further, Paul Revere did not watch for the lanterns in the Old North Church tower, but it is more likely he hung the lanterns himself.
Longfellow’s poem, written 85 years after the event, does not say that Paul Revere ever shouted the words, “The British are coming!” We wonder from whence that came.
Little wonder that most scholars of the health care system in America give little credence to the crescendo of warnings, “Socialized medicine is coming! Socialized medicine is coming!”
This was said of the Medicare program for seniors, but just look at its success! We have “fee for service” payments made to doctors and hospitals at a level which controls health costs, and payments are made through private contractors from a central government agency. It’s not perfect, but it is working.
It was said of the early efforts to cover the indigent. If we used health care at all, we were all paying their unpaid bills indirectly. Now, the indigent poor, public welfare clients, are covered for basic health care.
Then we found that parents on welfare could not afford to go to work at low wage jobs because they would lose their health care and that of their children. They could not afford insurance for their families. So, coverage for the working poor was begun.
Coverage for children in families in poverty is given through a special program called SCHIPS.
It is this SCHIPS program for children that will now be terminated unless Congress overrides President Bush’s veto. His veto was given with the shouted message, “Socialized medicine is coming! Socialized medicine is coming!”
Senators Inhofe and Colbert support and echo the president, as do Congresspersons Fallin, Cole, Lucas, and Sullivan. Congressman Boren supports the SCHIPS health care program for children. Ms. Fallin has pronounced publicly that it is “socialized medicine.”
As is all too common, Mr. Bush has not been completely truthful in his veto statements. He says this will extend coverage to children of workers up to $86,000 in salary, not the poor, and that this is socialized medicine. Like some of the details of Paul Revere’s Ride in Longfellow’s poem, that message distorts the truth.
The legislation vetoed would allow all states to go beyond basic poverty guidelines up to 250% of poverty level, as a few states are already doing. For a single mother and one child, poverty is defined in 2007 as $1140 a month or $13,690 a year. For a family of four, poverty level is $1720 monthly or $20,650 per year.
While many states use the basic poverty tables, some go beyond poverty levels by 50%. A few allow more.
Now, if Mr. Bush were entirely truthful, he would have said that the $86,000 figure he quotes is the highest possible anywhere, and it is BASED UPON A FAMILY OF EIGHT in California WHICH ALLOWS ELIGIBILITY FOR CHILDREN OF FAMILIES UP TO 250% OF POVERTY LEVEL.
While Mr. Bush may not be lying in using that figure, he is at the far outside edge of the improbable zone. Certainly, he is misleading the public and members of his own party.
Some of us are not surprised by Mr. Bush’s lack of whole truth or candor, but one would think that members of Congress would know the facts.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
We imagine that these words were shouted by Paul Revere, as he rode through the night to warn his fellow colonists of peril.
In fact, Paul probably did not shout these words, but had as many as forty comrades helping to pass the word. There was likely no shouting of warnings, but rather knocks on doors and whispering of the news. Further, Paul Revere did not watch for the lanterns in the Old North Church tower, but it is more likely he hung the lanterns himself.
Longfellow’s poem, written 85 years after the event, does not say that Paul Revere ever shouted the words, “The British are coming!” We wonder from whence that came.
Little wonder that most scholars of the health care system in America give little credence to the crescendo of warnings, “Socialized medicine is coming! Socialized medicine is coming!”
This was said of the Medicare program for seniors, but just look at its success! We have “fee for service” payments made to doctors and hospitals at a level which controls health costs, and payments are made through private contractors from a central government agency. It’s not perfect, but it is working.
It was said of the early efforts to cover the indigent. If we used health care at all, we were all paying their unpaid bills indirectly. Now, the indigent poor, public welfare clients, are covered for basic health care.
Then we found that parents on welfare could not afford to go to work at low wage jobs because they would lose their health care and that of their children. They could not afford insurance for their families. So, coverage for the working poor was begun.
Coverage for children in families in poverty is given through a special program called SCHIPS.
It is this SCHIPS program for children that will now be terminated unless Congress overrides President Bush’s veto. His veto was given with the shouted message, “Socialized medicine is coming! Socialized medicine is coming!”
Senators Inhofe and Colbert support and echo the president, as do Congresspersons Fallin, Cole, Lucas, and Sullivan. Congressman Boren supports the SCHIPS health care program for children. Ms. Fallin has pronounced publicly that it is “socialized medicine.”
As is all too common, Mr. Bush has not been completely truthful in his veto statements. He says this will extend coverage to children of workers up to $86,000 in salary, not the poor, and that this is socialized medicine. Like some of the details of Paul Revere’s Ride in Longfellow’s poem, that message distorts the truth.
The legislation vetoed would allow all states to go beyond basic poverty guidelines up to 250% of poverty level, as a few states are already doing. For a single mother and one child, poverty is defined in 2007 as $1140 a month or $13,690 a year. For a family of four, poverty level is $1720 monthly or $20,650 per year.
While many states use the basic poverty tables, some go beyond poverty levels by 50%. A few allow more.
Now, if Mr. Bush were entirely truthful, he would have said that the $86,000 figure he quotes is the highest possible anywhere, and it is BASED UPON A FAMILY OF EIGHT in California WHICH ALLOWS ELIGIBILITY FOR CHILDREN OF FAMILIES UP TO 250% OF POVERTY LEVEL.
While Mr. Bush may not be lying in using that figure, he is at the far outside edge of the improbable zone. Certainly, he is misleading the public and members of his own party.
Some of us are not surprised by Mr. Bush’s lack of whole truth or candor, but one would think that members of Congress would know the facts.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
