And you wonder why I'm against such a large increase in the SCHIP program.
"You leave it up to the states to say you can't have an income level over 300 percent (of poverty), but you can deduct $20,000 for a housing allowance or you can deduct $15,000 for shelter or whatever," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. "So, what you've got here is the classic bait and switch."
Rep. John Dingell, D-Michigan, said that allowing states to exempt some income helps to ensure that low-income families don't have to resort to welfare to get health care for their children.
So in other words, if someone's paying rent or a mortgage, they get to deduct that from their income. WHAT??? Why should they? What would they do if they didn't pay that rent? Where would they live? When you start fudging with who is eligible for your program, it's completely ripe for abuse.
Putting out an increase of $35 billion would mean that people who normally wouldn't need this coverage, would then start getting onto this program. Yet, employer paid healthcare wouldn't get used as much. Why should the government pay for health insurance when employers can cover that? So according to these numbers, some families of four could theoretically earn as much as $97,000 a year and STILL be qualified for this program.
That's $62,000 a year in normal earnings, 20k in housing allowance, and 15k in other expenses as illustrated by Rep. Joe Barton. Just taking our the "other expenses" leaves a family of four with $82k a year in possible earnings that they would be able to be qualified for this program.
Let me put this in perspective for you. I have a friend who he and his wife earn 60k a year with four children. So a family of 6 survives on 60k a year, and all children have health insurance and they all are very healthy. Why? Because the parents get on their kids' butts about getting outside and playing, exercising, and eating healthy.
It's called being a responsible parent. If you feed your kids crap all day long and don't keep an eye on them, they develop health problems.
So if they can survive on 60k a year and STILL manage without the federal government's handouts, then why does someone who makes upwards of 90k a year get a pass?
It's not fair to those who are legitimately working and providing for their families and those who don't.
Travis
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