Bush Veto of Health Insurance Bill Will Hurt Ohio Kids

Elizabeth Auster of the Cleveland Plain Dealer had a column in the July 29, 2007 issue about how Governor Strickland's plan to insure more Ohio children may be screwed because of a possible Bush veto of a bill to increase health insurance for children. If you click on this entry's title, you can read an article that includes the following quote from Governor Strickland:

"The coverage the president enjoys, that enables him to have a colonoscopy that is not available to a lot of other people, is in part financed through the government," Strickland said. "This is really frustrating, that in a country that's spending billions of dollars a month on a war that he chose to initiate, that we cannot spend the money that's needed to make sure that our children have access to health care. I find that reprehensible."

This quote from the Auster column shows how the program would work:

In the past, Ohio has limited coverage under the children's health insurance program to families with incomes up to twice the poverty level - $41,300 this year for a family of three and $48,260 for a family of four. Beginning next year, families whose incomes fall between twice and triple the federal poverty level - between about $41,300 and $61,900 for a family of three - will be able to buy coverage for a $40 monthly premium per child.

Ohio's Democratic Senator, Sherrod Brown, supports the expansion of health insurance but Senator Voinovich has not yet announced a position. If you are so inclined, you can call his Cleveland office at 216-522-7095 or his Washington office at 202-224-3353 and let his staff know your thoughts on this issue. The name of the program is the State Children's Health Insurance Program and your question would be whether Senator Voinovich backs an expansion of this program. Be polite. If you call and receive an answer, please let us know the response by emailing webmaster@medinacountydemocraticactioncommittee.org.