Kerry introduced his Kids First healthcare plan 1st day of 109th congress and 110th.

[blm]

Did Democratic senators withhold support for Kids First in last congress so Hillary could use it for a 2008 campaign issue?





On the first day of the new 109th legislative session in the U.S. Congress, John Kerry introduced his “Kids First Act” to provide health care coverage to the 11 million American children who currently go without. Since then, Kerry has worked to gather grassroots support around the country for this initiative, with more than 700,000 Americans endorsing the bill from every state in the nation. An impressive coalition of non-profit organizations, representing more than 20 million Americans, have joined Kerry in advocating to put KidsFirst.

And at the beginning of the new Democratically-controlled 110th Congress, John Kerry will reintroduce his “Kids First Act” to ensure health care coverage for all children.

Every day in America, 11 million children go without health care coverage, without well visits to ensure that treatable health conditions are diagnosed before they spiral out of control. Doctors have to compromise on treatments for their patients because parents can’t afford the costs, school nurses are greeted on Monday mornings by students who broke bones on Friday night or over the weekend, and parents can’t let their children play a sport at school because they aren’t sure they can afford to fix any injuries.

It’s not right that in America:

1 out of every 4 children is not fully up to date on basic immunizations;
Half of all uninsured children have not had a well child visit in the past year;
1 out of every 3 children with chronic asthma does not get a prescription for medications he/she needs;
1 out of every 5 children has trouble accessing needed care; and
1 out of every 3 children went without health insurance for all or part of 2002 and 2003.
Kerry believes that putting kids first is about standing up and reclaiming the conscience of this country, it’s about doing what’s right for America’s children. Kerry plans to get all Americans involved in the grassroots movement to hold our nation’s leaders accountable on children’s health care issues and to put Kids First in every neighborhood.

[PresidentObama]

1. I think thats a stretch.

But it is clear who originally came out with the plan.

And it wasn't Hillary!

[Mass]

2. Probably not -

And expect every Democrat running for congress to start presenting THEIR own bills, independently of whether somebody else has a bill doing the same thing.

It is how things go. I doubt there is more than that.

[Warpy]

3. That's stupid, they withheld support because it SUCKS

Remember, Medicare was supposed to be the stepping stone to national health insurance, but once part of the population was covered, it was just too damned bad for the rest of us. They howled about the cost and about the (miniscule) fraud and generally blocked everything that came down the line.

Now it's forty years later, and they're still trying this incremental bullshit, only this time they're leaving the damned insurance companies in place and able to rip us off by denying care.

Kid got an earache? Forget comfort meds, just keep him home and listen to him scream for three days. Kid got the croup? Just take him into the bathroom with the shower going full blast on hot, let him breathe in that steam. Hey, turning blue is normal with croup, yanno?

Meanwhile, the number of people with chronic illness who are uninsurable grows every day. Meanwhile, the people who still have insurance at work find themselves paying higher and higher premiums and copays. Meanwhile, over half the people who have gone bankrupt over health care issues had insurance!

This plan is just another attempt at Hillarycare, a bad plan that gets worse every time some conservative decides to modify it so it'll pass and keep those insurance companies happy. It sucks.

Single payer care for ALL OF US. We need not accept anything less.

[wisteria]

6. Smart I would say, it have quite a few endorsements. n/t

[Warpy]

7. Yeah, people with medical stocks and people in the insurance

companies can't endorse it enough.

What makes you think they're our friends?

[LittleClarkie]

8. Does Hillary's also suck

How similar are the two bills?

[Warpy]

9. They both suck because they keep for profit insurance companies

running the show, and we know what that means: squeeze every dime you can out of everyone by making sick people jump through multiple hoops on the thin chance they might get care.

Hillarycare would have forced them to cover everybody. Kerrycare says only the children deserve insurance. I suppose we're supposed to grow out of getting sick and postpone our chronic illnesses until Medicare kicks in.

Insurance companies are the problem. Single payer is the solution.

[karynnj]

11. Kerry 2004 covered almost everbody and the 2008 one covers

evrybody without other insurance. In 2004, his was called the best plan in every evaluation I heard. One key idea that most really liked was that catastopic insurance became the government's responsibility - making insurance cheaper for everyone and allowing more small businesses to afford it.

The thing that is clear to me is that this could be a mechanism to single payer that could phase in gradually - by lowering that threshold to a point where insurance would be unwarranted. (NOTE - THERE IS NOTHING SAID THAT THIS IS ANYONE'S PLAN, it's simply obvious mathematically.)

The dislocation of a flash cut to single payer would be a huge shock to the economy - especially in some states, like Connecticut.

[Warpy]

13. The insurance companies are the major obstacle to

single payer, and leaving them anywhere in the mix is a very bad idea.

Medicare was supposed to provide the transition to universal health care 40 years ago. Instead, the insurance industry has fought it tooth and nail for the whole time.

Even Nixon wanted single payer. It's the only thing that WORKS.

[IronLionZion]

10. So single payer or nothing?

A lot of innocent children will die before we get single payer. Those kids don't give a damn about the politics or who gets the profit, they just need health care. Kerry's plan can work NOW.

[MH1]

12. Thank you

I don't think many would say that S-CHIP sucks.

This would extend and improve S-CHIP, as I understand it.

[IronLionZion]

14. At the risk of digressing,

I wish someone would tackle the tremendous price gouging that goes on at every level: lab tests, medical equipment, supplies, malpractice insurance, prescription drugs, etc. Not to mention the crisis caused by emergency rooms being clogged up with non-emergencies from uninsured people.

[Nite Owl]

4. Is this the bill you are talking about?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/us/politics/22clinton.html?_r=2&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

This isn't a new bill, it renews legislation that already exists. She wants to extend the income level to make it available to more children. This is a good thing but it isn't a plan.

I know she was burned for the healthcare legislation she introduced back in '93 but she needs to put forth a real plan for now. I would hope the conclusion would be that a single payor system is the only viable solution that is moral and saves money. Covering kids is a good thing but there are way too many adults who need insurance too.

[wisteria]

5. I am a cynic so I will say that some in Washington didn't want to see him get credit for anything,

so yes, it is very possible, they ignored it so that Hillary could run on it in 2008. Her campaign has been in the works since at least 2004.