Giving Hillary Credit for SCHIP

[riversedge]

I ran across this and post for Reference:

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/giving-hillary-credit-for-schip/


Giving Hillary Credit for SCHIP
Despite disparagement from political rivals, we find she deserves ample credit for expanding children's health insurance.


Posted on March 18, 2008


One of Clinton’s signature claims has come under fire from political foes, quoted by the Boston Globe, who say she doesn’t deserve credit for expanding federal health insurance for millions of children.

We review the record and conclude that she deserves plenty of credit, both for the passage of the SCHIP legislation and for pushing outreach efforts to translate the law into reality.
Analysis

Hillary Clinton has made the claim literally thousands of times, repeating it constantly in her ads, debate appearances and stump speeches. She "got health insurance for six million kids," according to one ad. (The version shown here ran in Texas, but a similar ad also ran heavily in Wisconsin.)

..............Moreover, Hillary Clinton took a major role in translating the new law into action. The program leaves to the states the job of setting up coverage and getting children enrolled, a task that continues to be a struggle to this day. In February 1999, after 47 states had set up SCHIP programs, the Clintons launched a drive to "Insure Kids Now." Hillary took the lead, speaking first before her husband in an East Room event at the White House.

Hillary Clinton, Feb. 23, 1999: At least half of all uninsured children are eligible for federal-state health insurance programs, but too often their parents don’t know or don’t believe they qualify. As successful, for example, as Medicaid has been, an estimated 4 million eligible children are still not enrolled.

In April that year the first lady gave a speech saying nearly 1 million children had been enrolled during the previous year, but that increasing the figure was "one of the highest priorities" of her husband’s administration. She said the president would seek $1 billion to fund a five-year "outreach" effort, with a goal of increasing enrollment to 5 million by 2000. Our conclusion: Clinton is right on this one.

– by Brooks Jackson

[SunSeeker]

1. Hillary knows it's not enough to just pass a law, you have to implement it.

She has spent her life working for us within the system, resulting in concrete, practical gains. And she has often paid a political price for that.

[freshwest]

2. +1. And it's why they hate her so much. Hate and fear. n/t

[Thinkingabout]

3. All of this work is where she has advocated for children's rights for years.

She did run out on the day she declared her run for the presidency and develop a record on children's rights. An early assignment was with the Children's Defense Fund. While First Lady in Arkansas she worked on early childhood development.

[yallerdawg]

4. Socialized single-payer healthcare for children.

No, not Hillary!!!

Besides, what could she possibly know about American healthcare?

[Gothmog]

5. In Texas, this is one of the few sources of coverage for poor people