Shame on those children for not paying for their own insurance
Missing word in bill halts CHIP debate | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
AUSTIN — A missing word in a bill analysis derailed debate Monday on a bill to cover more youngsters under the Children’s Health Insurance Program.A sharp-eyed Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, noticed the error in the analysis of House Bill 109 — the word “family” was missing — and raised it shortly after the bill was brought up for discussion. As a result, the bill will be sent back to the House Human Services Committee for another vote.
The bill’s author, Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, said he thinks the committee will quickly move to pass the bill and send it to the House. He predicted it will pass in the House despite opposition from some Republicans who don’t want to expand the program, which provides insurance for families who earn too much for Medicaid but can’t afford private health insurance.
“We’ll be back even stronger and work even harder,” he said, citing bipartisan support.
Talton said he would be happy if the bill never came back out of committee, which passed it earlier this month, 8-1.
“I believe in limited government. I think people ought to pay for (health insurance) themselves,” he said.
Maybe this is why our government doesn’t get enough done. How silly to stall a bill because of a missing word. Rep. Talon doesn’t like this bill so instead of debating it on its merits he has to rely on arguing semantics.
I am certainly not impressed with Robert Talon. It’s great that he thinks that “people ought to pay for” their own health insurance. I, as an adult do pay for my own insurance but CHIP isn’t for adults. CHIP is for uninsured children and Texas is 1st in uninsured children. CHIP doesn’t ever cover adults, it only covers children. CHIP has income limits so we aren’t talking about it being available to people who can afford to just pay for their own insurance. I really do have strong personal responsibility ethic but since I know that Texas has the highest number and percentage of uninsured children I can see there is a breakdown somewhere and programs like CHIP are needed. Maybe instead of quibbling about missing words he should be working to break the circle of poverty these working people are stuck in by enacting legislation that stops the practice of keeping full time workers at part time status so they can’t receive benefits or maybe do something about it being possible for two parents to both work full time and not be able to make ends meet.
So, my question to you Rep. Robert Talton is, since you are so interested in arguing semantics, where do you propose these children work so that they can pay for their own insurance as opposed to having CHIP available to them?
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Filed under: CHIP, HB 109, Health, Robert Talton, poverty
