NEWS: Family Values: Sick Kids? Tough Shit

POLITICS: Family Values: Sick Kids? Tough Shit

Yesterday Bush, as promised, vetoed the State Child Health Insurance Program bill.

Ugly, ugly, ugly. Denying health insurance to children because providing it is "the wrong direction" is the "political spin" here. SCHIP wouldn't "displace private insurance" for fucking anyone; it would *provide* insurance for kids who don't have it.



Here's what will happen in California, Gallegly's state:

More facts:



In 2005, there were 8.3 *million* uninsured children in the U.S. In 2006, there were 8.7 million.

These are children with asthma, with disabilities, with chronic ear infections, with toothaches, with eczema, with allergies; kids in foster care, kids with depression or ADHD. The idea that most people are basically healthy and that if you get sick without health insurance you can always go to the ER applies to "most people" because "most people" have had decent health care as children and haven't developed long-term or chronic problems because they lacked it. Untreated colds, head lice when you can't afford the medicine that kills them, eczema that drives you crazy--that kind of minor ongoing problem undermines kids' ability to attend school, undermines their ability to focus when they are in school, undermines their long-term health and the health of their entire families. ER visits for head lice or asthma are a fuck of a lot more expensive to the almighty taxpayer than providing kids with inhalers and topical medications.



And it's fucking pathetic that we have to resort to that kind of "it costs more not to treat them" argument for convincing the wealthiest country in the world to make sure kids can see a doctor once or twice a year.



The good news is that the Senate has enough votes for SCHIP to override Bush's asshole veto.



The bad news is that the House doesn't. We need 25 more Representatives to act like decent human beings and switch their votes.



So. Do the decent thing. Go here and find out who your representative is.



Then scroll down the list below to see if his or her name is on it. These are the folks who voted against SCHIP.



Write them (you can do so via the first link, or you can google their name and find a real honest-to-god mailing address) and tell them to change their vote. That's all you have to do.



If you want to do more, google the name of your state + "uninsured children numbers" and find out what percentage of kids in your state are uninsured. Mention that in your letter. If your representative was one of the good guys, write to the people on the list below who are from your state, admit that you're not in their district, but tell them you write as a resident of your state, and point out that their vote affects everyone.



If you want to do even more, talk to your friends and make sure they know about this. Tell them who their representative is. Urge them to write or call. Give them your representative's contact information. (A list of people who are *most* likely to change their votes is here, but even the dyed-in-the-wool assholes should hear how unpopular their stubbornness on this issue is with their constituents.)



If you want to do even more than that, print out a few flyers that say "Your Representative in Congress voted AGAINST providing health insurance to uninsured children," put your Representative's name, face, and contact information on it, and post them around town.



If you want to do even more than all of that, think of what else you can do and post it in the comments below.



Alabama



AL-1 Bonner, Jo (R)

AL-2 Everett, Terry (R)

AL-3 Rogers, Michael (R)

AL-4 Aderholt, Robert (R)

AL-6 Bachus, Spencer (R)



Arizona



AZ-2 Franks, Trent (R)

AZ-3 Shadegg, John (R)

AZ-6 Flake, Jeff (R)



Arkansas



AR-3 Boozman, John (R)



California



CA-2 Herger, Walter (R) -- did not vote

CA-3 Lungren, Daniel (R)

CA-4 Doolittle, John (R)

CA-19 Radanovich, George (R)

CA-21 Nunes, Devin (R)

CA-22 McCarthy, Kevin (R)

CA-24 Gallegly, Elton (R)

CA-25 McKeon, Howard (R)

CA-26 Dreier, David (R)

CA-33 Watson, Diane (D) -- voted "present" but did not vote aye or nay on the bill

CA-40 Royce, Edward (R)

CA-41 Lewis, Jerry (R)

CA-42 Miller, Gary (R)

CA-44 Calvert, Ken (R)

CA-46 Rohrabacher, Dana (R)

CA-48 Campbell, John (R)

CA-49 Issa, Darrell (R)

CA-50 Bilbray, Brian (R)

CA-52 Hunter, Duncan (R)



Colorado



CO-4 Musgrave, Marilyn (R)

CO-5 Lamborn, Doug (R)

CO-6 Tancredo, Thomas (R)



Florida



FL-1 Miller, Jeff (R)

FL-4 Crenshaw, Ander (R)

FL-5 Brown-Waite, Virginia (R)

FL-6 Stearns, Clifford (R)

FL-7 Mica, John (R)

FL-8 Keller, Ric (R)

FL-9 Bilirakis, Gus (R)

FL-11 Castor, Kathy (D)

FL-12 Putnam, Adam (R)

FL-14 Mack, Connie (R)

FL-15 Weldon, David (R)

FL-18 Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana (R)

FL-21 Diaz-Balart, Lincoln (R)

FL-24 Feeney, Tom (R)

FL-25 Diaz-Balart, Mario (R)



Georgia



GA-1 Kingston, Jack (R)

GA-3 Westmoreland, Lynn (R)

GA-6 Price, Tom (R)

GA-7 Linder, John (R)

GA-8 Marshall, James (D)

GA-9 Deal, Nathan (R)

GA-10 Broun, Paul (R)

GA-11 Gingrey, John (R)



Idaho



ID-1 Sali, Bill (R)



Illinois



IL-6 Roskam, Peter (R)

IL-11 Weller, Gerald (R)

IL-13 Biggert, Judy (R)

IL-14 Hastert, J. (R)

IL-15 Johnson, Timothy (R)

IL-16 Manzullo, Donald (R)

IL-19 Shimkus, John (R)



Indiana



IN-3 Souder, Mark (R)

IN-4 Buyer, Stephen (R)

IN-5 Burton, Dan (R)

IN-6 Pence, Mike (R)

IN-7 Carson, Julia (D) -- did not vote

IN-9 Hill, Baron (D)



Iowa



IA-5 King, Steve (R)



Kansas



KS-4 Tiahrt, Todd (R)



Kentucky



KY-1 Whitfield, Edward (R)

KY-2 Lewis, Ron (R)

KY-4 Davis, Geoff (R)

KY-5 Rogers, Harold (R)



Louisiana



LA-1 Jindal, Bobby (R) -- did not vote

LA-4 McCrery, James (R)

LA-5 Alexander, Rodney (R)

LA-6 Baker, Richard (R)

LA-7 Boustany, Charles (R)



Maryland



MD-6 Bartlett, Roscoe (R)



Massachusetts



MA-10 Delahunt, William (D) -- did not vote



Michigan



MI-2 Hoekstra, Peter (R)

MI-4 Camp, David (R)

MI-7 Walberg, Timothy (R)

MI-8 Rogers, Michael (R)

MI-9 Knollenberg, Joseph (R)

MI-11 McCotter, Thaddeus (R)



Minnesota



MN-2 Kline, John (R)

MN-6 Bachmann, Michele (R)



Mississippi



MS-1 Wicker, Roger (R)

MS-3 Pickering, Charles (R)

MS-4 Taylor, Gene (D)



Missouri



MO-2 Akin, W. (R)

MO-6 Graves, Samuel (R)

MO-7 Blunt, Roy (R)

MO-9 Hulshof, Kenny (R)



Nebraska



NE-1 Fortenberry, Jeffrey (R)

NE-2 Terry, Lee (R)

NE-3 Smith, Adrian (R)



Nevada



NV-2 Heller, Dean (R)



New Jersey



NJ-3 Saxton, H. (R)

NJ-5 Garrett, E. (R)

NJ-11 Frelinghuysen, Rodney (R)



New Mexico



NM-2 Pearce, Steven (R)



New York



NY-26 Reynolds, Thomas (R)

NY-29 Kuhl, John (R)



North Carolina



NC-2 Etheridge, Bob (D)

NC-3 Jones, Walter (R)

NC-5 Foxx, Virginia (R)

NC-6 Coble, Howard (R)

NC-7 McIntyre, Mike (D)

NC-8 Hayes, Robin (R)

NC-9 Myrick, Sue (R)

NC-10 Mchenry, Patrick (R)



Ohio



OH-1 Chabot, Steven (R)

OH-2 Schmidt, Jean (R)

OH-4 Jordan, Jim (R)

OH-8 Boehner, John (R)

OH-10 Kucinich, Dennis (D) -- WTF?



Oklahoma



OK-1 Sullivan, John (R)

OK-2 Boren, Dan (D)

OK-3 Lucas, Frank (R)

OK-4 Cole, Tom (R)

OK-5 Fallin, Mary (R)



Oregon



OR-2 Walden, Greg (R)



Pennsylvania



PA-5 Peterson, John (R)

PA-9 Shuster, William (R)

PA-16 Pitts, Joseph (R)



South Carolina



SC-1 Brown, Henry (R)

SC-2 Wilson, Addison (R)

SC-3 Barrett, James (R)

SC-4 Inglis, Bob (R)



Tennessee



TN-1 Davis, David (R)

TN-2 Duncan, John (R)

TN-3 Wamp, Zach (R)

TN-7 Blackburn, Marsha (R)



Texas



TX-1 Gohmert, Louis (R)

TX-2 Poe, Ted (R) -- did not vote

TX-3 Johnson, Samuel (R)

TX-4 Hall, Ralph (R)

TX-5 Hensarling, Jeb (R)

TX-6 Barton, Joe (R)

TX-7 Culberson, John (R)

TX-8 Brady, Kevin (R)

TX-10 McCaul, Michael (R)

TX-11 Conaway, K. (R)

TX-12 Granger, Kay (R)

TX-13 Thornberry, William (R)

TX-14 Paul, Ronald (R)

TX-19 Neugebauer, Randy (R)

TX-21 Smith, Lamar (R)

TX-24 Marchant, Kenny (R)

TX-26 Burgess, Michael (R)

TX-30 Johnson, Eddie (D) -- did not vote

TX-31 Carter, John (R)

TX-32 Sessions, Peter (R)



Utah



UT-1 Bishop, Rob (R)

UT-3 Cannon, Christopher (R)



Virginia



VA-1 Davis, Jo Ann (R)

VA-2 Drake, Thelma (R)

VA-4 Forbes, James (R)

VA-5 Goode, Virgil (R)

VA-6 Goodlatte, Robert (R)

VA-7 Cantor, Eric (R)



Washington



WA-4 Hastings, Doc (R)



Wisconsin



WI-1 Ryan, Paul (R)

WI-5 Sensenbrenner, F. (R)



Wyoming



WY-0 Cubin, Barbara (R) -- did not vote

I'll be very interested to see how Bush tries to spin this veto.

I mean, is "government coverage would displace private health insurance for many children" really the best justification he's got?

I'm glad to see that all the representatives from my state voted for the bill. This leaves little I can do to change things though. I will, however, make sure to tell everyone I know about this. It fucking pisses me off that the first positive thing this congress has done gets shot down on some vague ass "principal". What exactly is your reason Mr. President? Leaving it at "wrong direction" doesn't fucking cut it. This is what happens when you elect an idiot president.

I mean, I can understand, although I don't agree with, the notion that people need to work and pay for their own health insurance, and that if they don't the responsibility lands squarely on their head. But this is for fucking children! Are you going to deny them health insurance because of the laziness, lack of success, whatever (reasons Republicans are convince people don't have health insurance) of their parents? They can't help that, and they certainly shouldn't have to go out and work. This is just beyond fucking ridiculous.

Thanks for writing this article Bitch.

Kucinich said he voted against this version of SCHIP because it removed funding for medical care for legal immigrant children.

But, but ... it would displace PRIVATE coverage! OMGWTF SINKING SHIP!!1!!1!!!11

I'm sorry. That's still fucking annoying and why he'll never get my vote even though I pretty much agree with him on everything. You have to pick your damn battles. Hopefully, he will change his vote when he realizes they'll need it to help override the veto. I hope. Otherwise his principles are just hurting rather than helping. You need to take things one step at a time. It just reminds me of the whole Hilary Health Care Debacle.

FWIW, here's the letter I sent my dickwad representative (the guy quoted in the article) and which I'll also be sending to the paper:

Dear Representative Gallegly,

I understand that you have no intention of changing your vote on SCHIP to override President Bush's veto of that bill.

But as your constituent, as an educator, as the parent of an elementary school child, and as an active member of my child's school Parent Teacher Organization, I am asking you to reconsider.

It is my understanding that there are approximately 32,000 uninsured children in Ventura County. Of those, approximately 27,000 are eligible for MediCal or Healthy Families--which leaves 5,000 children who, even under the existing law, are not eligible for free health insurance. Moreover, according to the Ventura County Star, unless Bush's veto is overridden, California will have to drop as many as 250,000 children who are currently on its health insurance rolls.

You know what the cost of living in Ventura County is like; you must know that for many families--and all the more now, with so many homes being foreclosed on--buying private insurance is not financially possible. Surely you are also aware that the schools require children to receive vaccinations, medical checkups, and dental care--as they should.

Without health insurance, how are our children supposed to get the medical care they need to stay healthy, to perform in school, and to ensure that common health problems--asthma, ear infections, eczema, allergies, even head lice--do not require extended absences and extended sick days for working parents?

It is not "spin" to insist that all children have a right to proper health care in the richest state in the richest country in the world. It is spin to argue, as you have done, that those who believe we can and should afford to help the children of working families stay healthy are merely "playing politics."

I hope that you will examine your conscience and see your way clear to change your vote.

Sincerely,

B

I have kids. I have no medical insurance. One visit can eat half of my payceck. If you need medical emergency, plan on dying in the waiting room waiting 12 hours until your name is called. As a single mom, I had to get smart and get smart fast. Preventitive was my only hope. All 3 have had braces. This is like making a car payment each month. When I do have to take them in to the doctor, I flat out ask for samples of antibiotics if they need them. I have no shame anymore saying I cannot afford not only the meds but the bill itself. I make 30.00 over the amount to qualify for medicade.

30.00 damn dollars.

Ask for a pay cut...

emotedcreations said:

mingol said:

emotedcreations said:
What exactly is your reason Mr. President? Leaving it at "wrong direction" doesn't fucking cut it.

But, but ... it would displace PRIVATE coverage! OMGWTF SINKING SHIP!!1!!1!!!11

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Seriously, the extent to which this administration fetishizes the privatization of anything and everything is flat-out pathological.

For real, I can even appreciate it in a lot of instances, but this is simply ridiculous.

Hooray for the veto!!! This was a piece of crap legislation anyway!!! Since when are 25 year olds considered kids? Also in some states if you make up to $80,000 a year you could still qualify. First off, if you are 25 and still live at home......you're some kind of loser!!! Second off, if you make over $40,000 a year and can't afford insurance for your kids....you need to go to a money management course!!! I don't care if either the democrates or republicans sponsored this bill.....it is trash!!! Why is it the taxpayer is always responsible for the kiddies? I don't mind helping people out when they really need it, but sometimes we go way to far.

this administration? this party! look up one funny name: grover norquist

Don't you love my paint skillz?

Can they not vote in abstentia?

The party generally, but this administration particularly.

That's interesting. I've never heard that before. See you can learn things on SG!

Yeah, both of those statements are utter lies propagated by Bush and his ilk to justify his veto. Neither are the case. In fact, this legislation shores up the loophole that would have allowed the $80k situation. So shove it, idiot.

fixed!

Very sad and interesting...it's kinda like the whole "no children left behind" law. And look how many fucking kids are left behind. Yeah I understand America produces a lot of freaking kids but seriously these are the ones who will be here when we die. And with all these supposed mass epidemic scares of getting flus and diseases. If they can't or don't have insurance to get these vaccinations who the hell is going to be left. Bush is a dumbass in vetoing this!!

Although I'm glad you cleared that up for those who don't know, sometimes I feel it's better to just ignore that type of chatter...

I know right. What difference does it make who gives care to your child.

I guess these children will be left behind.

And how will they be healthy enough to become useful soldiers?

I mailed my Rep today. Have you all done the same?