| Christine's post, Joe Knollenberg Targeted By Catholics United, reported on a series of radio ads being lauched against 10 members of Congress opposed to SCHIP. Catholics United claims their opposition to SCHIP has compromised their "pro-life" records. This triggered my brain and I remembered something I read recently at Blackprof.com that fellow Christians may identify with. The author points out that President Bush fancies himself to be a man of the Christian faith, so it was just natural for him to pose this question to the president:
Would Jesus have vetoed the SCHIP bill? We already know what Bush did...
He vetoed the bill, claiming that it would cover too many middle-class families, would encourage those with private coverage to switch to S-CHIP, and would represent an unjustifiable step toward government-managed health-care.
These rationales, however, are unsupportable. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 84% of new children covered by the bill would come from families eligible under current S-CHIP income guidelines -- so the argument that the bill targets well-to-do families is simply untrue. This also undermines the claim that the bill encourages families to switch from private coverage to S-CHIP: almost all of the children covered by the bill -- because they would be eligible under current S-CHIP standards -- cannot afford private coverage in the first place. These families would be going from no coverage to S-CHIP -- not private coverage to S-CHIP.
Finally, the government-managed-health-care trope is both meritless and stale. S-CHIP subsidizes private health care coverage, not a system of government-controlled care. And, in any case, the premise underlying this scare tactic -- that government-managed care would preempt private choice -- is simply inapplicable where people have no coverage to begin with. Simply put, S-CHIP provides coverage overwhelmingly to people who cannot afford it; and it is this moral imperative that drives the broad public support for this bill. I'm not questioning the president's faith (only his veto), but as a Christian, I have to say that I don't think Jesus would put money ahead of the health of any child - rich or poor. I think Jesus would remind us that everything we have comes from God - including our money - and we are to share whatever He gives us with others. Or, as Blackprof.com says: So what would Jesus do? I think the answer is clear: "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of the least of these, you neglected to do unto Me." Amen. The Jesus I know would approve of SCHIP. |
