…..from Richard Chase of Clemmonsville, in today’s Journal:
The recent spate of letters denouncing the president and various members of Congress for their alleged lack of concern for the health of the nation’s children because of their opposition to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program legislation just passed, shows that most writers apparently have about as much understanding of that program and government-provided health insurance as my cat.
Fact: The president urged reauthorization of the present SCHIP program with about double its present funding. The Democrats (to try to embarrass him, I suspect) responded by proposing and passing a bill that would increase the eligibility of children in families earning as much as $61,000 a year, and redefined a “child” as an individual up to 25 years of age. This would increase the program’s cost seven-fold. To cover this cost, Congress proposes increasing the tax on cigarettes substantially. Problem is, economists point out that because of the large size of the tax increase, tobacco-tax revenues will actually increase little, so guess who’ll pay?
In spite of your misunderestimation of the intelligence of cats everywhere, good job, Mr. Chase.
