Lamar Alexander vs. Tennessee’s GOP Congressmen

Tennessee’s five Democratic congressman voted to expand S-CHIP to 11 million uninsured children in the United States this week.

All four of Tennessee’s Republican congressmen voted against it – including Zach Wamp, who thinks he’s ready to be our governor.

What does Sen. Lamar Alexander think about his GOP colleagues who try to block the S-CHIP bill?

“I disagree with it. I think the children’s health insurance bill is good for Tennessee — 127,000 Tennessee children need it,” [said Sen. Lamar] Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

That’s 127,000 Tennessee children that our Republican congressman are fighting to keep uninsured. So who’s side is Sen. Bob Corker on?

In a joint release, Alexander and Corker said SCHIP reauthorization would boost Tennessee’s efforts to provide coverage for the state’s neediest children and help compensate Tennessee hospitals that treat a large number of patients who are unable to pay their bills.

Looks like Corker is siding with the kids. Good for you, Senator.

Both Corker and Alexander voted for S-CHIP and against President Bush’s veto three months ago, so I’m sure we can count on their continued support next week when the bill goes back up for a vote in the Senate. This time, President Obama will sign it into law.

Go, Obama!

(Okay, okay, that stuff in italics up there is from October and refers to Bush's veto - but you're telling me it doesn't apply now? What changed?)

The Cost of Living

In news that would have been a lot more meaningful before the election, an independent study of President-elect Obama’s healthcare plan finds that it will provide coverage for 2/3 of currently uninsured Americans at a cost of $75 billion--or about one tenth of the bailout. The government will recover about $25 billion of that because it won’t have to cover the hospital costs of those newly insured people anymore.

So that’s a $50 billion bill to the taxpayer in exchange for health insurance for 31 million people.

Of course, it’s an annual cost, not a one-time deal. With healthcare costs rising much faster than inflation or wages, the burden will become increasingly large every year.

I’m all for the Obama plan, but I think it’s important to take an honest look at the numbers. If anyone thinks we can pay for it with the money we’ll save by withdrawing from Iraq, remember that we paid for Iraq with borrowed money--which was stupid--and it’d be stupid to pay for this with borrowed money as well.

In the long term, we can pay for healthcare reforms with the money we currently pay on interest on the national debt, but we’ve got to eliminate the deficit first and start paying down the debt before that money gets freed up. In the meantime, the money must come from somewhere.

No one said Obama’s job was easy.