Speech in Opposition to H.R. 2 Children's Health Plan

M. Speaker:

I saw S-CHIP implemented in California, and I can tell you that it’s a prime example of the law of unintended consequences. Since its inception, we’ve watched as S-CHIP has been slowly replacing employer health plans with government-paid health plans – with spiraling costs to taxpayers. Employers discovered that they could avoid their own plans, knowing that their employees would be covered by S-CHIP.

S-CHIP was supposed to provide health insurance for poor and working-class families, but like all things bureaucratic, it has now morphed into one in which families earning six-figure incomes and who would otherwise have good employer-paid health insurance are being pushed into the government program.

That’s the fine point of it. This is no longer a program for the children of poor people – it is being used to insinuate government into the medical care of every American.

Frankly, we don’t need the same people who run the TSA to be running our health insurance.