Kasha and health care

Here's Traveler editorial that ran last Saturday.

KELLEY OUT OF TOUCH ON HEALTH CARE

Kasha Kelley is way off base when it comes to health insurance for children.
In the House budget committee, she worked against expanding government-assisted health insurance for children, known as SCHIP.
SCHIP is funded mostly by the federal government with a small match from states.
Thankfully the full House put the measure into the budget it approved this week. Hopefully the Senate will follow and Kansas can reach another 8,000 or so children of working families.
Expanding SCHIP would cover children of families making 250 percent of federal poverty levels.
According to the Hawver Capitol Report, Kelley said a family of four earning $55,000 a year could tithe to a church and still afford private health insurance.
This view is out of touch with the struggles of working families, many of whom live in fear of going to the hospital.
Private health insurance costs have sped way past income gains in recent year.
That family of four can easily spend $10,000 a year on out-of-pocket costs if they purchase private insurance.
Businesses large and small are pushing more and more of their health insurance costs to workers because of the soaring costs.
This is one area that demands government action.
The least we can do is aid in the health care of children from families of modest means.