Senator Dick

[qwerty1500]

This is the second email from Durbin ... a response to my objection to his first "canned" response. I knew it was a wasted effort. But, hey, Obama never bothered to reply at all ...


September 28, 2007

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns about the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). I appreciate hearing from you.

Nearly nine million American children lack health insurance, including more than 250,000 in Illinois. The majority of these children are from working families, many of whom have lost affordable employer-based coverage or lack the financial resources to purchase private health insurance.

The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has played a crucial role in reducing the number of uninsured children in the United States. Today, the program - established with bipartisan support in 1997 - covers some 6.6 million children who would otherwise be added to the 47 million Americans without health insurance. CHIP is set to expire this year and must be reauthorized to allow continued federal funding.

The Senate passed the CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2007 (H.R. 976). This bipartisan bill reauthorizes CHIP and invests $35 billion over the next five years to continue covering the millions of children already in the program and to provide health care for an additional 3.2 million uninsured children.

CHIP is not government-run health care. Most CHIP programs are modeled after private insurance and use private plans to deliver benefits. There also is little evidence that families cancel private coverage to enroll their children in CHIP. According to the nonpartisan Urban Institute, CHIP coverage may have contributed to, at most, a two percent decline in private coverage among all children.

The program also is designed to target aid to working families whose income exceeds the limits for Medicaid but who do not earn enough to afford private coverage. CHIP covers children from families with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which in 2007 is $34,340 for a family of three. States wishing to extend coverage above that threshold must receive special approval from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In 2006, 91 percent of children enrolled in CHIP were from families living at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Only 3,000 of the 6.7 million CHIP enrollees were from families with incomes above 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

Coverage for the 6.6 million children already enrolled in CHIP is financed by general revenues. The CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2007 provides new coverage to 3.2 million children who are currently uninsured through an increase in the excise tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. According to the Institute of Medicine, "pricing policy is perhaps the single most important element of an overall comprehensive strategy to reduce tobacco use, and particularly to reduce use among children." Our public policy should be aimed at reducing the number of people who use tobacco, which would lead to a reduction in tobacco-related illness and death as well as an improved quality of life for millions of Americans.

Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death in America, killing more than 438,000 Americans each year - more than the deaths attributable to alcohol use or any other health risk. Secondhand smoke exposure causes nearly 50,000 lung cancer or heart disease deaths each year. Tobacco-related illnesses cost the economy more than $167 billion yearly, including more than $75 billion in health care costs and an additional $92 billion in lost productivity. Every day, more than 4,000 children and adolescents try smoking for the first time, and more than 1,000 join the ranks of regular smokers, placing them at risk for a lifetime of addiction and disease.

The federal tax rate for small cigars is currently only about a tenth as much as that for cigarettes, and the federal tax rate for large cigars priced above 25 cents is capped at five cents per cigar. Such a tax structure encourages tobacco companies to manufacture and sell cigarette-like small cigars, especially to youth, and unfairly favors higher-income smokers of expensive large cigars.

The health of our children should be one of our highest priorities. By ensuring that every child in the United States receives adequate health care, we are investing in the future of our country. Although we may disagree on this issue, I appreciate having your views. Please feel free to keep in touch.



Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin

United States Senator

RJD/cc

[M1903A1]

Nothing like having a pretty-boy twit for one Senator and a Bolshevik for the other....

[c2000]

Hey DICK.... go have a smoke and give one of those little cigars to your nephew.


Jerry in Minnesota.

[cigarmonkey]

Please vote Dick "Turbin" Durbin out of office. Here is one choice that is the front runner for defeating the communist that is currently representing the fine folks of Illinois. Please vote for anyone but this evil "do-gooder" who has no respect for the military or the working class. Vote his ass out! Please!

http://www.sauerbergforussenate.com/

[borndead1]

Originally Posted by qwerty1500

CHIP is not government-run health care. Most CHIP programs are modeled after private insurance and use private plans to deliver benefits. There also is little evidence that families cancel private coverage to enroll their children in CHIP. According to the nonpartisan Urban Institute, CHIP coverage may have contributed to, at most, a two percent decline in private coverage among all children.

Ummmm....huh? Wait a minute...am I reading that correctly? If that's the case, then [SIZE="7"]WHY THE F**K CREATE THE PROGRAM??????[/SIZE]


The REAL truth is coming out now. This is a tobacco tax, plain and simple. It has nothing to do with health care. And this DOLT just admitted it!!!!

[Corona Gigante]

Originally Posted by cigarmonkey

Please vote Dick "Turbin" Durbin out of office.

"Turbin?" Do you mean "Turpin?"

Originally Posted by borndead1

Ummmm....huh? Wait a minute...am I reading that correctly? If that's the case, then [SIZE="7"]WHY THE F**K CREATE THE PROGRAM??????[/SIZE]

To insure the uninsured?!

In the excerpt you quoted, Durbin seems to be responding to the familiar insurance industry canard that CHIP encourages families to drop private coverage in favor of government coverage.

[qwerty1500]

You may want to note that Senator Dick conviently shifts gears in the middle of his letter to discuss statistics about the current program rather than the proposed program ... offering the proposed program to middle-class and currently insured children seems to be the issue.

Btw, it's good to know that this isn't government run health care ...

[cigarmonkey]

I am all for insuring the poor kids of America. However my definition of a kid is 17 years or less, not 25 as proposed in the bill. Also, my definition of poor is a family of four at the "poverty level" which is about $28K/ year, not $80k/year as proposed. Gimmie a Break!

As mentioned earlier, this will give people a choice between their private insurance or the government's. This is a bad idea all around.

Go W!

[Budprince]

Durbin is an absolute idiot! I'm not at all surprised by his response!

[ATLHARP]

Originally Posted by M1903A1

Nothing like having a pretty-boy twit for one Senator and a Bolshevik for the other....

Exactly!

Welcome to the Democrat party! Don't forget the Klansman!!




ATL

[Budprince]

Originally Posted by ATLHARP

Exactly!

Welcome to the Democrat party! Don't forget the Klansman!!




ATL

WOW! Senator Byrd. . . who likes to talk about "white niggers" - his words not mine. Can anyone say "senile?" He is an accurate representation of the Democrat party, though.

[borndead1]

Originally Posted by Corona Gigante

"Turbin?" Do you mean "Turpin?"






[SIZE="5"]To insure the uninsured?![/SIZE]
In the excerpt you quoted, Durbin seems to be responding to the familiar insurance industry canard that CHIP encourages families to drop private coverage in favor of government coverage.

Out of my pocket? And to the detriment of tens of thousands of poor tobacco workers and THEIR children? No way. Insuring the uninsured is not my responsibility, nor should it be my obligation.

[FriendlyFire]

I think we should invite alot of Political big shots to CS, and with a few bombs in the mail they will change there minds.

Then the next Scandal you will hear on the news will be Dick Durbin excepted Caigars on CS

[FriendlyFire]

I'm thinking, maybe he dosn't know how to use the internet

Originally Posted by FriendlyFire

I think we should invite alot of Political big shots to CS, and with a few bombs in the mail they will change there minds.

Then the next Scandal you will hear on the news will be Dick Durbin excepted Caigars on CS

[Deriffe]

I don't really believe DICK had anything to do with that email. That looks like a cut and paste job created by a staffer. Dick Durbin doesn't give a rats ass about any consituent who isn't on his donor list.