Political Creature

Just in case we thought the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was a good time to exhale. Just in case we thought it would be ok to move on, maybe forget a little bit.

I wanted to share this.

And profound anger that pregnant mothers and children are not valued in this country. That only the well-to-do are looked after. I am pretty sick and tired of the "pro-life/pro-family" culture that is nothing more than a big box of propaganda. I wish the President (and apparently Congress) cared about children's health.**

I wish...things were different. More times a day than you probably know.



**From Moms Rising

THE SCOOP ON SCHIP: This federal health care program (one of our favorites!) helps families afford health coverage for their children (and this help is critically important because right now 1 in 9 children are without health care coverage at all!). Here's how it works--it gives funds to the 50 States, who then use the money to create health care coverage programs for kids. Families that don't meet the low-income standards for Medicaid coverage, but still don't make enough to purchase private insurance, can apply for their children to be covered by the state-run plans.

What makes this program so powerful is that it allows states to decide what level of assistance makes sense for their populations--taking into account the state economy, local cost of living, and the total number of uninsured children in their state.

1-YEAR WAIT FOR THE DOCTOR: Sadly, the just released rules undermine a state's ability to administer their program in the best way -- helping the most kids get much needed health coverage. These problematic changes include the following:

* Requiring a 1-year waiting period--with no insurance at all--for some children before they can be covered;

* Pushing states to only cover children whose families are at 250% of the federal poverty level, regardless of the cost of living in that state;

* Tying children's health coverage to private insurance enrollment rates: if private insurance enrollment is down in a state (for any reason), then the federal government won't cover more kids. This just plain doesn't make sense-particularly because private insurance enrollment is often tied to a job so there could be a scenario where unemployment would go up, but help for kids' health care would go down!