Well, this is an interesting take on the SCHIP debate:

Randy, please don’t raise our taxes by rubberstamping George Bush’s veto against children! || Eric Massa for Congress - NY 29

SCHIP, which would be federally funded, would help alleviate state and county costs associated with emergency room care for children who do not have health insurance. Rather than allowing the federal government to pay a fair share, Randy Kuhl has opted to reject federal dollars and to throw the burden back on our local communities. With the increasing costs of health care and millions of Americans without health insurance, Randy Kuhl has decided to pass the buck to Medicaid … paid for by the property taxes of the constituents of the 29th Congressional District. He’s going to allow our property taxes to go up so that his buddies in Congress, in the Tobacco Industry and in Washington D.C. lobbyists firms can enjoy the luxury of fully funded health insurance.

Massa’s right on the money with this assessment, but it’s not one that gets much play in the media these days.  SCHIP is not really what you’d call a “direct aid” kind of program, so much as it is a targeted grant of federal dollars to states for the purposes of dealing with low-income working families.  The idea is to take some of the burden off the Medicare rolls and off straining local hospitals by providing money from the federal government.

The loss of this grant money would indeed force local municipalities to raise taxes once the tide washed through Congress, the state and finally onto communities.

Technorati Tags: Randy Kuhl, Eric Massa, SCHIP, Taxes, Medicare, Unfunded Mandates

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