Thursday, March 19, 2009

Odd priorities

Kasha is for spending $800,000 on drug testing of welfare recipients but against spending 1.2 million in Kansas to leverage millions more in federal dollars to expand health insurance coverage for Kansas children.

From the Haver Political Report:

The committee rejected $1.2 million in spending to qualify for millions of federal dollars for a youth health insurance program. Rep. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, said the 250% of federal poverty cap on eligibility for the government-assisted insurance for children was too rich. She said a family of four could have up to $55,000 a year in income to qualify for the government insurance assistance—too high, she said. She said at that income level, even families that tithe to a church should be able to afford health insurance for their children.


So if you tithe at 10 percent, that's $5,500. If your premium is about $5,000 (like mine) and then you spend $2,500 to $5,000 a year in out of pocket, your gross income is left at $40,500 to $43,000 a year for a family of four. Good luck owning a decent house, car(s) and sending your kids to college on that ... And that's the richest of qualifiers.

Over the last decade or more, health care costs have increased dramatically while incomes have increases only slightly. Something's gotta give.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

And this surprises you?

Anonymous said...

Republicans tend to not worry about the poor.

Anonymous said...

"Republicans tend to not worry about the poor."


Yeah right, and Democrats want to give the poor all the Republican's money.

Anonymous said...

The question is; How much money will be saved? Hopefully research should yield that information.

Personally, I would spend a few dollars just for principle. I must agree to random drug testing in order to keep my job yet the people who I support with my tax dollars for their government aid do not?

charles said...

Educational moment for me here. I am getting from the first three comments:
Republican = Wealth
Democrat = Poor

Is it that simple?
Did I miss something here? Or, did I get it right on the first guess?

Anonymous said...

me thinks you got it right charles. (at least from the 1st 3 posts)

Anonymous said...

seems like if the democrats became republicans everything would turn out great

Anonymous said...

Republican = Wealth
Democrat = Poor
--------------------
Thats where the middle class gets left out.

Anonymous said...

Republicans tend to worry about the size of there bank account. Democrats tend to worry about the community and other people.

Anonymous said...

Good luck owning a decent house, car(s) and sending your kids to college on that ... And that's the richest of qualifiers.
-------------------------
Thats exactly where alot of middle class workers get left out. We don't qualify for state funded insurance. Yet, we struggle to pay for the insurance. I'm not trying to complain and I am grateful to be able to afford the insurance. Healthwave is free to a certain income level and then anymore then that and one pays a $10 to $20 monthly fee. Off the top of my head I think cutoff is $41 or $43,000(gross income, not takehome). Why couldn't the state try to bump up the cutoff, but have them pay more out of pocket?
Or better yet...make insurance companies quit ripping off the citizens!

charles said...

Anonymous said...
Republicans tend to worry about the size of there bank account. Democrats tend to worry about the community and other people.

March 24, 2009 8:14 AM

Ahh! There's perhaps a bit more depth to the divide? And I like that someone supposes they "tend" to. That even suggests there may be some diversity of agenda within the parties.

If that is the case, there remains a chance of an inclusive agenda where both content AND discontent might be shared. Not necesarily evenly shared but could there be a position in the larger portion of the room rather than the gathering and pressing at the east and west walls only?

Anonymous said...

It's a classic example of a politician being out of touch with reality. Kasha has said that she comes from a poor family. Just think about that comment...it means she has a different definition of "poor." Those of you who actually knew Kasha when she was younger would know she is bending, nay, rather breaking the truth with that line. How many poor kids drove a convertible?

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should see where she lived before she moved here.

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember her living in Circle Drive and driving a classic Corvette Convertible in High School. Doesn't fit my definition of "Poor", but they weren't "rich" either.

Anonymous said...

before that