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Originally Posted by dc_dux
In short, dont take every thing you read on right wing blogs literally or at least try to get a better understanding of both sides  |
I haven't thought much about this bill until the recent veto and am trying to get a better understanding. As I understand it this program is meant to provide health care for children of the working poor. The following is a quote from the New York Times about the Frost family which is the example the supporters of the bill used recently.
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The family’s home, in the modest Butchers Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, was bought for $55,000 in 1990 and is now worth about $260,000, according to public records. And, for the record, the Frosts say, their kitchen counters are concrete.
Certainly the Frosts are not destitute. They also own a commercial property, valued at about $160,000, that provides rental income. Mr. Frost works intermittently in woodworking and as a welder, while Mrs. Frost has a part-time job at a firm that provides services to publishers of medical journals. Her job does not provide health coverage.
Under the Maryland child health program, a family of six must earn less than $55,220 a year for children to qualify. The program does not require applicants to list their assets, which do not affect eligibility.
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Democrats, including the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, have risen to the Frosts’ defense, saying they earn about $45,000 a year and are precisely the type of working-poor Americans that the program was intended to help.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/wa...RA&oref=slogin
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It does not appear that this family should require taxpayer help to afford insurance. Couldn't they sell one of their three cars? Also dont they already qualify for SCHIP under the existing law without the new expanded bill that Bush just vetoed? Would they be able to have millions in assets and still qualify for SCHIP?