Why I'm Suing the Bush Administration

Somebody had to do it.

After months of negotiation and countless attempts at compromise, the Bush administration is still refusing to let New York and other states across the country expand their State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). The president is refusing to back down from destructive new rules his Administration has imposed -- the sole purpose of which are to curb bi-partisan state efforts to insure more of our nation's children.

The reason? As the president himself put it: "I mean, people have access to health care in America. They can just go to the emergency room."

It is this politics of "not my problem" that has led to the health crisis we have today.

The bureaucratic barriers to coverage the Bush administration has imposed are not only fundamentally misguided, but also illegal...

...They conflict with the statute authorizing SCHIP. Moreover, they were issued without the opportunity for public comment, as required by federal law. Accordingly, I have joined Democratic and Republican governors from states across the country to bring a lawsuit challenging these new rules in court.

It didn't have to come to this. There is widespread bipartisan support for expanding SCHIP. Even many members of the president's own party have recognized how out-of-touch he is with the American people, and instead have chosen to support compromise legislation in Congress repealing these arbitrary rules.

Unfortunately, President Bush has repeatedly threatened to veto this bipartisan bill. In justifying his position, his administration has tapped into the politics of fear -- branding the effort as "socialism."

Of course, SCHIP has nothing to do with socialism. The government would be the payer, not the provider of care, and families would have a range of private plans from which to choose. But instead of engaging on the merits, the right wing has pulled out socialism from their parade of horribles in order to frighten the public.

The president has also said that those children who already have insurance will choose to give up their coverage in order to join the program.

If you talk to doctors, health care professionals, and state leaders across the country like I have, they know the President is flat-out wrong.

These are the facts.

In New York, we want to expand coverage to every uninsured child in our state. And even though experience at the state level has shown that few children drop their existing coverage in favor of SCHIP, we have instituted some of the most stringent protections in the country in order to both prevent any potential problem and satisfy the White House.

The Bush administration, however, refuses to compromise and work with us to cover these children.

Ultimately, the president just doesn't get it. There is a health care crisis in this country, but he continues to ignore the problem while vulnerable children without insurance "just go to the emergency room."

We all know the statistics. There are 400,000 uninsured children in New York. There are 8 million uninsured children in the United States.

These staggering figures are intolerable. On both a moral and practical level, we cannot allow this to stand. The president, however, continues to say the status quo is acceptable.

Children should not have to wait until they get sick enough to go the emergency room to receive treatment. Rather, they need preventive and primary care. Ensuring that children with health problems are diagnosed and treated in a timely manner will save money and save lives.

It is imperative that we all come together to reverse the Bush administration's attempt to override the will of Congress, the will of the states, and the needs of our children.

We will continue to defend our nation's kids - even if the President will not.

This morning I gave a speech to Fordham University students. SCHIP was among the topics. A video is available here.

Cross posted at Daily Kos.

Comments

[poopdeck]

Here is a politician I would vote for the presidency without hesitation any time. Why am I so lonely?

[LightningJoe]

You're right, the neocons "just don't get" anything that doesn't have to do with funneling our money into their pockets at an ever-increasing pace. No, children's healthcare isn't "socialism," but it IS caring for one's fellow humans, which IS the neocon definition of socialism.

The truth is, the concepts DO cascade to an inevitable rise of social conscience, which is a toothless orphan if it does not lead to a willingness to take action to raise everyone's state of existence, rather than just those of us in gated communities. Children's healthcare is just the "sharp edge of the wedge" of healthcare for all (and don't we need and deserve good health as much as someone who makes a hundred times what I make?), and healthcare for all is ultimately pointless, without a good living and worthwhile work for everyone.

Those who are afraid of "socialism" are ignoring the fact that we are social creatures, and can't be satisfied living with injustice around us. We can learn to tolerate it, as evidenced by the Republican party's adaptation to that condition; but there's something inhuman about their ready acceptance of poverty, ignorance, and injustice.

Socialism is NOT soviet communism. It's just a commitment to raising all people together; something a for-profit capitalist can't fathom, because it threatens the greed-is-good ethic. But there IS room for profit and comfort in a socialist system -- just not obscene profit, or comfort at another's expense. Those who can't envision a socialist economy see it as a limitation, but our future is limited anyway. We simply can't continue the way we are, and survive as a culture.

The choice is to die in a pile, with the rich on top, or find a way to exist as partners. Many would rather die last and rich: it's their idea of freedom. I'd rather live somewhat poorer, but know that I'm not taking from those who need it.

It comes down to the question of what makes us human. Eating others' livelihoods is just appetite, but sharing and creating new worlds is transcendent.

[Mormondude]

"No, children's healthcare isn't "socialism," but it IS caring for one's fellow humans, which IS the neocon definition of socialism."

A government bureaucracy cannot have Charity. It's impossible. It can't care. It can't empathize. So what you are suggesting is both impossible and naive.

I am always surprised that liberals with such a heightened sense of their fellow man would fight for something like this. Let's see, we could spend hundreds of billions of dollars from now until the end of time on Americans, or we could spend that money to feed and clothe the entire world a thousand times over. Why is a New Yorker making $83k a year higher on your priority list than the millions around the world that will never make that amount of money in their entire lifetimes? Your argument takes off like an eagle and crashes like a turkey.

Oprah once went to Africa on a humanitarian expedition. While she was there, a reporter asked her why she had to go all the way to Africa to find someone to help, since there were so many needy people in Chicago. Her response was that needy people in Chicago have orders of magnitude more opportunity than those in Africa.

She offended a whole lot of liberals with that comment. They refuse to acknowledge that America is STILL the land of opportunity. But liberals aren't satisfied with opportunity, they want equal results, and condemn anyone that thinks otherwise as selfish, heartless, and greedy.

[Ryter]

this is why I love Eliot Spitzer.

[youngtrout]

My biggest problem with this bill is that they want to fund the expansion on higher tobacco taxes.

These are the same people who say that higher taxes on tobacco lead to lower usage. Lower usage would lead to less tax revenue. Therefore this bill is setup to fail in that it, in theory, destroys its funding mechanism.

[deminmo]

My state Governor decided to cut health care as well. The hospitals will not refuse to treat a child who goes to the emergency room. But for every child that is treated, the cost of health care goes up for everyone else. Hospitals in my area have closed because they were losing money due to the huge numbers of poor parents using the emergency room as a primary physician.

It is always assumed that the poor choose not to work. And there are people that won't work but most are families just making it with no health care at low paying jobs. Like me, they do not make $50k a year.

Bush's comment reminds me of "let them eat cake" and the contempt behind the comment.

[LightningJoe]

Yeah, but the "choosing not to work" line is getting pretty old and moldy, when you see that the people who rolled it out are fighting tooth and nail to take away what jobs there are, and drive down the wages on the rest of them.

That shows what their priorities are: to shave and eliminate American labor, for the sake of profits. We know by now that no lie is too outrageous for them, and they've been lying from day one.

NAFTA was to replace American jobs with cheap foreign ones, pure and simple. And every refinement since then has been to make the job of outsourcing our livelihoods more efficient and profitable for the rich who now own our government.

It's no wonder the Republicans wanted to re-interpret the Second Amendment right to own arms to mean just the military. Nothing like an armed and angry public, eh? The NRA didn't like that much though, so they backed off.

[SharonWantsToTalk]

Yeah, he learned the "cake" attitude from his mom who displayed it so well in New Orleans.

[JustOldBill]

God bless you, sir. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your leadership and your willingness to take extraordinary measures to try to stop the reign of terror this moral skeptic in the White House would perpetrate. Even if you (We the People) lose this suit, your example may, just might, set the tone for some other elected representatives to take actions and get back our country.

[emhaas]

Protecting our children from illness and disease and helping them get well when they do get sick is simply the right thing to do. And we need to say that again and again.

Senior Fellow
Rockridge Institute

[makesenseofit]

I cannot make sense of this countrys leadership.
However a simple formula is to think sensible
and then think a little rediculous to the right. And nine times out of ten you will be right. The rediculous part comes into play as result of greed nine times out of ten.
When something is said: voted on; rejected; vetoed etc... think and think in depth about how and why the subject was vetoed; voted; on rejected etc.. and nine times out ten it was because of greed.

[LightningJoe]

Well, makesenseofit, my simple formula is to interpret everything they say and do as a "free-" market jihad. They think that EVERY government control of the freedom of corporations is a sin and should be eliminated. They think that corporations should be able to do just whateverthehell they want to, with no "interference" from the government.

This is not government by the people, but government by and for private profit. The exact opposite of what it should be. They will veto any effort that will limit their profits. That's how simple it is. They've told us so baldly many times. You can see it in the character of our (elected!) officials. It's just a normal news day, when we hear of a Senator being arrested for cruising in a restroom, and then that same Senator shows us how stupid he thinks we are, by denying it and intending to stay in office.

It's time we started taking their word for what they keep telling us, by their words and actions, and start asking if bare greed and profit really are the soul of what makes our country great.

Because if they are, it's not much of a claim to greatness. If our country exists to enable a few to live high on the sweat of the many, this country is not worth fighting to keep, much less dying for.

[gems]

Well,
If you need the help of an ordinary everyday citizen who is fed up with all this administration, I'll tag along.
Gemma :O)

[susanlno]

"They can just go to the emergency room" is the 21st century version of "Let them eat cake."

[larry278]

It wouldn't be surprising if W also urged the poor to buy a ticket for PowerBall or a similar multi-state lotteries with a grand prize in the tens of million dollars to get the money to pay for medical care. W's bubble has thick walls to go with W's thick head and tiny, lame brain.

[calibpatriot]

Bush: "I mean, people have access to health care in America. They can just go to the emergency room."

That insensitive statement to the health needs of lower income children says it all. Every time Bush has a sniffle or headache he has immediate and complete access to the healthcare payed for completely by the taxpayer, which means that he and his family are enjoying complete socialized healthcare that Karl Marx could only dream of.

I challenge Herr "Uber-fuehrer" to put his own actions where his damn mouth is regarding this issue, disavow his "socialized" health care benefits and go to emergency rooms in the future.

[herronsmith]

It's amazing someone hasn't hauled off and beaten Bush to a pulp by now. If he were anymore insensitive, he would be his mother.

[MinneapolisBob]

Well said calibpatriot.
Bush couldn't care less about the middle class and the poor. Where are his so-called Christan supporters on this matter. I suppose when they get sick they just prey, because after all, medical care is just a bunch of science.

Let's hope this excuse for a president continues to piss-off the majority of us, which leads to the ouster of the bunch of these Greedy Obnoxious People (GOP)from all levels of government.

[tililek]

Reason and compassion are just words in the Bush administration.

Just find a way for PHARMA to plead your case, and its sure bet, SCHIP will avoid a veto, but how to find a way for that to happen? What's in it for PHARMA?

[CharliePfromHB]

Another "assault on reason" brought to you by the leader of the Oligarctelopolies (oligarcy/ cartels/Oligopolies) feigning as the free market. If anyone thinks that "emergency room" thinking won't follow us home, they're living in denial. We seem to be operating in emergency rooms throughout the world, because we are not willing to pay for preventative care. The one currency we have to overcome this is the vote. So who will win in 2008, denial or preventive care?

[frvale007]

his presidency is proof that the vote and the voter have been neutralized in this country.
I AM SICK TO MY STOMACH OF THIS ADMINISTRATION

[Archie1955]

Well Weedkillsyourbrain, it certainly has killed yours. You have no idea how "liberating" having your medical bills paid for by your own taxes is. It allows you to live a life free from the worry and stress of wondering if you will have to sell your house if you or a family member becomes ill. Waiting longer in Canada may occur if the surgery is discretionary but if it is necessary than you will either be pushed to the head of the line or sent outside the country at the cost of the system not at your cost. Also everyone who complains about so called socialism forgets that it is individual American's taxes (their own money) that is paying for universal health coverage so it's just a way of returning to them what they have paid into the system. The money does not belong to the Administration for Pete's sake it's yours to begin with. There simply is no appropriate reasonable rational ground for opposing healthcare for everyone.

[jewls7969]

sure there is emergency rooms but just to have someone look at your child is $180.00. I don't have insurance. My 11 year old daughter whom I almost lost because she had pneumonia. We have a low income of $1200 a month for a family of 4. Our hospital here is Abilene, ks you have to have the money before you leave. I had to take my daughter 30 miles to Salina because they have a donation program to make payments. By time they did a x-ray, charged me $165 just write out a precription, just to tell me this, and looking at her, it came to almost $600.00 in less then 1 hour. That is half of our income in one month. Bush is prejuidice, a lier, never been in a low income situation, and he don't care about his own family. He is self centered and loves to cause problems for others.