danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

In today’s Washington Post is an article detailing President Bush’s opposition to expanding a health care program for children designed to aid those who are too poor to afford insurance, but do not qualify for MedicAid:

“The president said he objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan Senate proposal to boost the State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years….

“‘I support the initial intent of the program,’ Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post after a factory tour and a discussion on health care with small-business owners in Landover. ‘My concern is that when you expand eligibility . . . you’re really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government.’”

Stunning.

George W. Bush is more concerned about the profits of insurance companies than he is about poor, sick children. He said it in plain English. Think for a minute about what this means: the president of the United States–a man who claimed to be a “uniter”, a man who professes to support a “culture of life”–is putting the financial interest of corporations ahead of the welfare of innocent children. Lest anyone think this is loaded language I am using, read the president’s words again.

Whether or not you support national, single-payer healthcare–and, obviously, I do–to deny the most basic need to the most helpless among us is truly sinful, and I mean that in the most damning, Biblical way. To those who support(ed) President Bush I’d like to ask, is this what you voted for? Do those words represent your values? Would Jesus Christ–whom Bush named as his favorite philosopher–speak those words?

I’ll write more soon about my position on universal healthcare, but, for now, I’d like to let the president’s words sink in a little longer.

Filed under: Axis of Evil, Current Events, Health, Politics on July 19th, 2007 | No Comments »