SCHIP Gets Support From Small Business Organization

SCHIP

My family owns a small business affected by the expasion of SCHIP. We will have to spend more than $2,000 every week now because of this. Just so you know how small, we only have 8 employees. I thought Obama was not going to raise taxes on people/small business that made less than $250,000 a year. We will more than likely have to let someone go becuase of this, and our employees consist of mainly family. In my state we have voted down twice now, increase on tobacco tax. What was the point of voting if the government was ultimatley going to go ahead and make the decision for us? I am all for helping children, but shouldn't everyone have to help them, not just smokers/businesses?

Megan of MO @ Feb 11, 2009 21:49:44 PM

This is a heartwarming story at its core. Small businesses stepping up to the plate and encouraging the government to raise their taxes to pay for this.

er...

oh.

Sorry... evidently they're calling on government to raise taxes on OTHER people, i.e. smokers, to pay for this.

This bill suffers from one major weakness: SCHIP will be mainly funded by a 200% tax increase on most smokers, but there's more to it than that. It also incorporates a truly MASSIVE tax increase on one of the poorest of the poor minority groups in the entire country, a group that's poorer on average than blacks, hispanics, senior citizens, or single mothers. I'm speaking of smokers who cannot afford to buy regular cigarettes but who are honest enough to avoid the black market by simply buying loose tobacco and rolling their own.

This minority group will be hit with a TWO THOUSAND PERCENT TAX INCREASE over the next few months if Obama signs the SCHIP bill: taxes on roll your own loose tobacco will go from just over a dollar a pound up to almost twenty-five dollars a pound. This tax increase will pour huge amounts of money into the black market, increasing law enforcement and prison spending, and send more money into supporting the next terrorist strike on America.

This bill should NOT be supported until the taxation to support it is shared among ALL Americans who love children... not just smokers.

Michael J. McFadden

Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"

Michael J. McFadden of PA @ Jan 16, 2009 22:54:49 PM

Record Opportunity

In the past it’s been difficult for the uninsured, especially children, to receive quality ongoing and follow-up healthcare because there was no previous record of their condition or treatments. Valuable time was wasted gathering basic information, and in some cases essential health histories have been lost. The lack of continuity in treating the uninsured is one of the big problems facing our health system. The proposed SCHIP extension will potentially insure 4 million children, making portable electronic health records more important than ever.

More discussion: www.healthcaretownhall.com

Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson of WA @ Jan 15, 2009 11:16:40 AM

SCHIP

You are right and you are terribly wrong. The only two parties that an important and undilutable stake in the health care debate are patients and providers. Everyone else is superfluous. Not saying other players are important, like the pharmacutical companies and the research organizations, but corporate and government interest should be way, way down the totem pole.

This is the most complicated system on earth. Please refrain from stupid and stupidly simple comments/ideas.

Parker of CA @ Jan 14, 2009 16:55:52 PM