Yesterday, President Obama signed into law an expansion of the SCHIP program, which will extend health coverage to about four million children. The spending increase will supposedly be offset by a 61-cent increase in the federal tax on cigarettes.
Forget for a moment that this legislation will engender a rise in cigarette smuggling to avoid the new tax. But does nobody find it ironic that a program dedicated to children’s healthcare will largely depend on Americans’ indulgence in an unhealthy habit?
More importantly, the SCHIP expansion represents another rung in the ladder in the Democrats’ overall strategy to incrementally nationalize the health care sector. The ultimate goal is, of course, the elimination of private insurance altogether.
In October of last year, Hawaii terminated the only statewide children’s healthcare program in the country on account of an unanticipated level of people signing up for the program. Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Dept. of Human Services, said, “People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free.”
Does anybody think the SCHIP expansion will not also lead to a dramatic increase in sign-ups?
Sadly, this is seemingly what the current Congressional majority wants. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) recently said of healthcare reform, “I would much rather see it done that way, incrementally, than to go out and just bite something you can’t chew. We’ve been down that road. I still remember 1994.”
The current economic slump is perceived by Congressional leaders as fertile ground for pushing a grossly misguided notion of “healthcare reform.” SCHIP is just the beginning.
