After seeing that one of my state representatives voted against the SCHIP expansion again, after the revisions that addressed each of his “concerns” I became angry. I wrote the following letter to him and will keep our readers up to date on his response, if there is one.
At this point it seems that it is merely a partisan fight. They will not vote for something an overwhelming majority of Americans wants because the Republican leadership doesn’t want to go against the Republican president on such a big issue. An issue that is a bi partisan, majority supported bill for our frickin’ children!!!
Representative Tiahrt,
As a Kansan I have called every one of our Representatives, participated in several different vigils and rallies, and worked on my political blog to gain support for the SCHIP expansion. I was very disappointed to see that even after the revisions to the bill that addressed what your concerns were, you still voted against it in the last vote.
I have 5 children, will be working 3 jobs and my husband works 2. We are lucky that his main job offers us good insurance for our family. There was a time last year; however, that wasn’t the case. Now we have thousands of dollars in medical bills that piled up very quickly with the birth of our son and his subsequent illnesses. We made too much money to qualify for Healthwave and we couldn’t afford private insurance.
You are ignoring 81% of the US population that supports the SCHIP expansion, 71% of whom would support it even if it meant a tax increase. You see, even if our children aren’t important to you they are to us. Due to Republican leadership and corruption our health care system is seriously flawed. I had to pay $600 for my baby’s first check up and immunizations, something that is required by law but that we could not get assistance for.
I would like to know what your position is now for not voting for SCHIP. The revisions in the bill would phase out coverage for childless adults (most states don’t have this anyway) within one year, there would not be coverage for anyone making 3 times the federal poverty level, and it would require stricter checking of social security numbers.
Surely 35 billion dollars over 5 years is not too much money when it comes to protecting this nation’s children. After all, you and your party are only too happy throw billions more into the illegal Iraq war. Are the deaths of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis worth more to you than the lives of our children?
The United States is second only to Latvia for the highest infant mortality rate in modern countries. It is time to listen to your constituents and stop blindly following the failed leadership of George Bush and do what is right.
I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.
Summer R. Ludwig
Bill Ludwig
Summer Ludwig