Colorado Republican Congress members Marilyn Musgrave, Doug Lamborn and Tom Tancredo voted against the bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program on Tuesday.
They did this despite their unctuous claims that they are pro-life, pro-family and in favor of leaving no child behind.
It’s the kind of thing that drives guys like Paul Melinkovich crazy. But then, the pediatrician at Denver Health Medical Center sees things from a different point of view.
He knows what it’s like when a child in the throes of an acute asthma attack arrives in the ER.
Melinkovich said the benefits of health care for the children of the working poor are incalculable in providing for normal physical and psychological development and giving kids what they need to succeed in school and become productive adults.
Nowhere is that more apparent, he said, than with children who have a serious chronic condition, such as asthma.
Without health insurance, asthmatic children often arrive in the ER dangerously ill.
“They spend several days in the hospital, and, upon discharge, they get a prescription for medications they can’t fill because they can’t afford it,” he said.
So they go home, and it’s just a matter of time before they’re back with another asthma attack, another hospital stay, another frightening, debilitating experience for a child, and no access to the primary care that can prevent future attacks.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” he said.
In Colorado, SCHIP serves about 48,000 of the estimated 97,000 children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid and not enough to pay for health insurance.
Melinkovich said Denver Health helps families complete the forms to gain access to the program so regular physician visits and prescription medications can help them control their illnesses and reduce their need for costly urgent care.
The bipartisan compromise bill that would increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion over five years passed the House in a 265 to 159 vote and is expected to pass the Senate by an even greater margin. But the margins aren’t veto- proof, and President Bush has promised to veto the measure because he says “it goes too far in federalizing health care.”
This from a guy who enjoys round-the-clock federalized health care, including emergency roadside service whenever he falls off his bike.
“It’s really unfortunate that in the executive branch, the conversation centers on cost, not the moral and ethical discussion on how we prioritize children in this country,” said Dr. Steven Federico, a pediatrician and child advocate with the Colorado Children’s Campaign.
When it comes to SCHIP, the human element has been lost in the headlong drive for political advantage.
They’re throwing poor kids under the bus. And for what?
A recent survey by Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families found that 91 percent of voters support expansion of SCHIP. So there’s nothing to be gained by destroying a program that is not only successful but wildly popular.
“It’s really about providing first-world health care to our children,” Federico said.
So how does anybody with a conscience vote against that?
Easy.
In fact, for the Washington elite, it’s way too easy.
As with every discussion of health-care reform, the problem comes down to people of privilege who are perfectly willing to indulge in socialized medicine for themselves and their families fulminating about the importance of the free market when it comes to the uninsured.
It’s nonsense.
Think how fast the health- care crisis would be confronted if taxpayers stopped paying the bills for elected officials.
Let them get denied coverage for a diabetic daughter or a wife with breast cancer or their own pre-existing conditions.
Let them face a bill larger than their annual salary for an emergency appendectomy or heart bypass or chemotherapy.
Let them wait in an emergency room with a child whose lips are blue and can’t breathe because of an asthma attack.
Let them all find out what it’s like without their socialized medicine.
It’s one way to get their attention.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 303-954-1489 or dcarman@ .
