I'm listening to Rachel Maddow take apart Pat Buchanan over health care for kids on Hardball. And she points out, not enough for my taste, that it's disingenous for the Bush administration to claim fiscal responsibility while they are throwing billions away on the war in Iraq. Let's face it, according to the Republicans, we never have enough money for the health and welfare of the people of the United States even when we have enough money for the health and welfare for the people of the United States.
Buchanan said that enacting the SCHIP program is like socialized medicine, but we already have socialized medicine. What the government does pay, I pay through higher taxes and higher medcial premiums. Back in the 1980s, I didn't pay anything out of my paycheck for health care and there were little or small deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. Now I pay premiums that are taken out of paycheck and the deducbibles are starting to soar out of sight. I think a system based on taxes and people's ability to pay would make much more sense.
I'm sure the time is coming to fix this problem. It should be declared a priority to be fixed in the first 100 days of the next presidential term. Along with getting out of Iraq, there can be no higher priority.