S-CHIP is a Step in the Right Direction for Health

Today marked the beginning of many Americans children to receive health insurance for their kids. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) Bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama today, February 4, 2009 but it was vetoed by former President George W. Bush because it raised the tobacco tax and the tobacco tax will be used to pay for S-CHIP to a degree. While many of you who smoke or chew tobacco might see your tobacco products go up in prices due to taxes. This new law will hopefully encourage less people to smoke during a time of economic recession when tobacco products should be seen as a want and luxury rather than a need for many people who smoke or chew tobacco.

S-CHIP is a step in the right direction for health because it expands to not only poor children but middle class children as well who are soon to be poor as the economy gets worse. The signing of S-CHIP clearly is a symbol that President Obama and Congress want to do some things to improve the health care industry in America. S-CHIP will cover many children who desperately need affordable health care because many of them don’t have it. However S-CHIP is not the only thing needed to make the health care industry work for the American people but it is a step in the right direction because many children across America will finally be able to see a doctor in order to prevent many diseases and illness that plague our children.

While S-CHIP was passed at the expense of the tobacco industry, it is clear that many people who badly need health insurance are those who smoke and chew tobacco or those who have been around second hand smoke. That’s why S-CHIP will help many children get healthier perhaps because it will limit their exposure to second hand smoke that is usually contracted by being around their parents, family friends and other relatives who smoke. It is the hope that many Americans will stop smoking or at least decrease in how many cigarettes they smoke a day due to the high taxes on tobacco that the S-CHIP bill is implementing.

It is clear that some will consider the S-CHIP bill socialism but the reality is that many Americans can’t afford health care not only for themselves but for their children. Therefore S-CHIP provides an opportunity for those who are underprivileged and less fortunate to have an opportunity to give their children health care so that their children can live for the future. For those of you who are against S-CHIP, your arguments are understandable but you can’t deny the fact that our youth deserve to live to see the future. That’s exactly what S-CHIP allows many children to do.

Since S-CHIP was first implemented back in the 1990s, it has helped millions and millions of children who otherwise would probably not be alive today without the passage of this bill. That’s why S-CHIP is a great opportunity for many of America’s children who are in need of help and otherwise would not have gotten it without help of state health insurance for children. S-CHIP might be hindering those of us who don’t have children or our children are grown because we are paying for other’s people’s children to have health insurance. However there’s an old African Proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a children.” Therefore we are the village and we must all chip in to a degree to raise someone else’s children.

As much as many of us want to believe we are the only ones who raised our children, the reality is that someone helped you along the way. A teacher, a coach, neighbor or another relative has helped you raise your child in some way. While they probably have not done as much as you, that doesn’t mean they didn’t play a role in raising your child. So by you paying your taxes or buying tobacco products to make sure that children who otherwise won’t be able to get health insurance gets it, isn’t asking a whole lot of you. It is a step in the right direction of helping the health care industry get back on the side of the people.

So even if you are against this bill, it is understandable but when you think about what your taxes go toward already than you shouldn’t be as angry to be paying taxes for someone else child to get health care. In fact the S-CHIP bill will be the template for how universal health care happens in America and this is only the beginning to reforming the health care industry so that we the people live healthier lives. S-CHIP is a bold step in the right direction for not only the children of America but for the future of America. Just imagine how many children’s lives we are saving with S-CHIP and how many futures we are sowing.

S-CHIP might not be perfect but it is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of reforming health care. The only problem that I see that could arise is that S-CHIP could be too much for many states to cover and it could lead to many illegal immigrants children benefiting as well. However those are things that can easily be fixed but for now we have to appreciate what S-CHIP has done and what it will continue to do. In a time of economic recession many people are not worrying about how to insure their children but they are worrying about how to keep a roof over their head, clothes on the back, and food on the table. That’s why S-CHIP is a relief for many families and the parents of the children who will benefit from the State Children’s Health Insurance Program because it gives their children health insurance that otherwise couldn’t be made possible.

S-CHIP is a major step in the right direction for health in America and that is something that even those who dislike the bill must at least appreciate as well as respect.