Republicans in Congress are about to cut off health insurance to millions of children across the country, including 95,000 here in North Carolina. It’s another failure of leadership and governing. The party that has no problem offering a windfall in tax cuts for the richest Americans can’t seem to find the political will to help the most vulnerable in our society—the children of poor people.
For Representatives like Mark Meadows, turning their backs on kids is easier than voting to keep the government running for another month. Meadows claims he’s taking a principled stand against too much spending and kicking the immigration program down the road. His principles won’t matter much to families who either avoid taking their children to the doctor because they can’t afford it or find themselves thousands of dollars in debt because of a child’s accident or illness.
What’s really played out over the past month is an expose’ of GOP values. The party that’s long complained about fiscal irresponsibility and a rising debt passed a tax bill that disproportionally benefited the wealthy but had no way to pay for it. They can come together as a party when they’re helping their financial benefactors. They can’t when it comes to helping vulnerable people in the country.
The party that told us that personal behavior matters supports and enables a president like Donald Trump. Just a couple of years ago, who would have believed that revelations that the President of the United States paid off a porn star to hide an affair would get ignored by not just the GOP but the white Christian conservatives who refer to themselves as the Moral Majority? Instead of reckoning with the damage that Trump is doing to the office of the presidency, the GOP is normalizing his behavior with no concerns for the long-term impact on our government and our country.
The last month has shown GOP values. Republicans in Congress care less about the well-being of poor kids than they do about the bottom lines of rich businessmen. The people who demanded the impeachment of Bill Clinton for an affair with an intern protect a president who has bragged, throughout his life, about marital infidelities and sexual conquests. And that doesn’t even get to the people who turn a blind eye to the racism and xenophobia that plagues a significant part of their coalition.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Kill them all and let God sort them out . The political climate is toxic and embarrassing. The greed is unbearable .To all religious leaders who back this administration your God will deal with you. My God told me to think of others,treat people with respect,take care of the planet. We are on this planet for a short time,and heaven is reserved for those who care,not politicians who line their pockets on the backs of the poor. It’s easier for a camel to get through the of a needle than for a rich man to get in to heaven. So says my God What does your say. So Republican conservatives the move is up to you, how can this man be your moral conservative leader. The only way is if you sold your soul to the man below
More FAKE news from leftist pundits. The House just passed a CR to fund the government that included a SIX YEAR EXTENSION of CHIP FUNDING. Mark Meadows and the House Freedom Caucus supported the CR and the CHIP funding extension.
Why should we pay for their health care? I paid for mine. In 2016 I spent $20,000 out of pocket for medical expenses. We had to do without other thinks to pay for medical. My spouse is a state employee, her insurance was pay for at about $500 a month.
So my family medical cost was about $25,000 in 2016, was that average?
I assume you are referring to CHIP, the insurance program for children. If so, I fail to see how you can believe that a child would have money to pay for their health insurance. They also would not be in the CHIP program if their family was not poor. I think those two facts provide an adequate explanation as to why taxpayers should pay for the health care of these children.
Think of it as somewhat analogous to public education. Many of us have no children, grandchildren, or even perhaps nieces and nephews, in public schools, but a portion of our tax money goes to pay for public education. We may debate the quality of that education, or specific problems and issues relative to it, but most of us acknowledge public education as a “public good.” We accept that the costs are spread over hundreds of thousands of people, and the direct benefits are to a much smaller group — all children. And some of us do that while paying for a private school, without complaining that we are paying for another child’s education via our taxes. It is part of the social contract we supposedly make with one another.
As for $25,000 annually for medical costs for a family, it depends of the health care needs. Personally, I have seen in my family much, much more. I don’t think it is the system we should have, but as long as we insist on private, profit making insurance companies providing health insurance, and unfettered drug prices, etc etc etc etc, we will pay it or sometimes die for lack of care.