Monday, October 22, 2007

Sam Graves; SCHIP Vote

Letter to Editor, published 10/13/07 in the Kansas City Star

Last week, Rep. Sam Graves gave his reasons for voting against the SCHIP bill that would provide health insurance for millions of U.S. children. A major reason for his rejection is that there is the possibility that the children of “illegal immigrants” might fraudulently receive benefits (they aren’t eligible under the bill). There may be reasons for opposing the program, but this isn’t one of them. It seems for Rep. Graves the horror that the child of a poor immigrant might actually get health care in this country outweighs the benefit of the program to millions of poor U.S. children. Immigrant bashing may be a convenient political move to justify just about any wretched policy, but it is patently ridiculous here. If there is the potential for fraud in the program (as there is in any federal or state benefit program), get rid of the fraud, not the program.

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