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TechnoratiPresident Is Rebuffed on Program for Children
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration violated federal law last year when it restricted states' ability to provide health insurance to children of middle-income families, and its new policy is therefore unenforceable, lawyers from the Government Accountability Office said Friday.
The ruling strengthens the hand of at least 22 states, including New York and New Jersey, that already provide such coverage or want to do so. And it significantly reduces the chance that the new policy can be put into effect before President Bush leaves office in nine months.
At issue is the future of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, financed jointly by the federal government and the states. Congress last year twice passed bills to expand the popular program, and Mr. Bush vetoed both.
State officials of both parties say the policy, set forth in a letter to state health officials on Aug. 17, has stymied their efforts to cover more children at a time when the number of uninsured is rising and more families are experiencing economic hardship.
In a formal legal opinion Friday, the accountability office said the new policy "amounts to a marked departure" from a longstanding, settled interpretation of federal law. It is therefore a rule and, under a 1996 law, must be submitted to Congress for review before it can take effect, the opinion said.
But Jeff Nelligan, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said, "G.A.O.'s opinion does not change our conclusion that the Aug. 17 letter is still in effect."
The letter told states what steps they needed to take to be sure the children's health program would not displace or "crowd out" private coverage under group health plans. The White House cited the policy as a justification for rejecting a proposal by New York State to cover 70,000 additional youngsters.
What happens next is not clear. New York, New Jersey and several other states have filed lawsuits challenging the Bush administration policy. In addition, Congress may consider legislation to suspend the directive.
Deborah S. Bachrach, a deputy commissioner in the New York State Health Department, said, "The opinion from the Government Accountability Office vindicates our position that the federal government did not have authority to issue the Aug. 17 directive."
The 1996 law, the Congressional Review Act, was enacted to keep Congress informed about the rule-making activities of federal agencies. If Congress objects to a new rule, it can pass "a joint resolution of disapproval," which the president can sign or veto.
Under the Aug. 17 directive, states cannot expand the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover youngsters with family incomes over 250 percent of the federal poverty level ($53,000 for a family of four) unless they can prove that they already cover 95 percent of eligible children below twice the poverty level ($42,400).
Moreover, in such states, children who lose or drop private coverage must be uninsured for 12 months before they can enroll in the Children's Health Insurance Program, and co-payments in the public program must be similar to those in private plans.
The legal opinion was requested by Senators John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, and Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine. In view of it, they urged the administration to rescind the Aug. 17 directive.
The administration told states they must comply with the directive by August of this year or else they face "corrective action." Compliance could mean cutting back programs.
The Justice Department contends that the letter is "merely a general statement of policy with nonbinding effect," But Gary L. Kepplinger, general counsel of the accountability office, said administration officials had treated it as "a binding rule."
© 2008 The New York Times
27 Comments so far
Show All"Bush violated the law..." What, again?
And no matter how many times he does it, he still has this stupid "Who, me?" look on his face (as in photo above).
IMPEACH NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE (before November)
POORLY WRITTEN ARTICLE...WHAT EXACTLY IS THE ISSUE HERE? BUSH TRIED TO GET RID OF A GOOD PROGRAM WITH A "LETTER"..? IS THAT IT? AND IT IS OR IS NOT "BINDING"?...WHY AM I COMMENTING? WHAT AM I DOING HERE? I AM WASTING MY LIFE...
People DO look healthier in Canada, as I noticed while on vacations there; not as obese, etc. I also noticed there weren't as many poverty-stricken people there compared to here in the U.S., the "world's richest country," (taking into consideration Canada's smaller population). The Canadians don't use people's tax money on war profiteering for the plutocracy.
Bush seems to be getting more evil looking, and no wonder.
This bozo hates his own kids. What makes you thinks he gives a shit about yours
Boy! The republican party really put a bunch of total losers in office, didn't they? Has the bush White house gotten anything right since they've been in power? What a bunch of total idiots.
Otoh, I doubt health care would be ever denied for children in Ca, instead believing it wouldn't; although if a treatment could only be done overseas, which a woman I knew in Ottawa had to do, then I don't know if the Cdn govt would cover this cost, all or some, or none (?).
" Doom n Gloom April 19th, 2008 2:20 pm
Bush is finally facing powers stronger than his own financial and personal bullying. His life absent love and spirit blossomed in evil."
Ya know what, I've never heard of evil blossoming; only knowing the term for beautiful, wonderful aspects of Nature, like flowers, f.e. And I cannot confound evil with anything that blossoms, for whatever does has to be beautiful and [good].
No wonder DnG has called herself DOOM AND GLOOM. Can't see the difference between light and darkness, thinking evil 'blossoms'.
And the same applies with 'love', btw.
Bush therefore never has blossomed; he was a blossom at birth and his family soon turned him into another mister Death.
"Now, an overwhelming force for positive change is assembling to bring justice to this man and his evil doer associates."
BUT DIDN'T YOU know, ELECTIONS are coming up soon; gotta prepare for those, so the many slackers will make sure to try to add a lot of polish over all of the darkness, in order to hide it as much as possible, prior to Election Day.
Maybe that's not the reason, but the wise person doesn't neglect the likelihood, nonetheless.
"He is witnessing the cracks in his foundation "
HE HAS NO foundation; he's been puppet all along and still is, and probably will continue to be for as long as his string holders keep him up and acting out something, or other.
"Bush will be legally pursued for his war crimes and cruelty for the rest of his days."
That's really [dreaming].
canuckchuck,
now he either lies about Canada, or doesn't know as much about it as he thinks he does.
"In Canada, a TRULY FREE COUNTRY"
Choke. Ca's much less free than the elites here realise, though plenty of them know it's not really free, does not abide by Cdn govt law and the UN Charter, and so on, and so on.
As for the poor getting as good health care treatment as the wealthy here, that's dreaming; although perhaps does occur, sometimes, once in a while, depending on who you are among Canadians.
My parents aren't wealthy, but saved and lived very modestly while working for many years, both of them did, and my mother just received facial surgery for serious cancer; and she got excellent treatment. But I wonder if her sister living nearby and who knows MANY people in the area, including among the business elites here, now I wonder if she went and pulled some strings for my mother to receive this treatment. After all, my aunt did that for my mother before, and even if it was over twenty years ago, it's because my aunt also knows people in the provincial govt, working in Quebec City; all my aunt had to do was to make a very short phone call and everything was cleared and arranged, for fast smooth sailing.
Many poor here would be given years and years of troubles; because most poor here are not "connected".
Being "connected" to elites provides for fast services, and of the topmost quality available. Canadian universities do it too; allowing academically unqualified children of elites to enroll, while disregarding very well qualified applicants who aren't "connected".
And that applies to the poor who have higher-ed. achievements, college and university, in addition to ten years professional experience. I know that for a fact; for it's me I'm speaking of for example.
F O R G I V E N E S S -- is for US surviving and BE'ing aware, as that anything less leaves US substantially less.
Geo_the_shurbiest is his own reward, and we may ALL be better off w/o concern for his "future", as how can that make our own any brighter?
For every thought of geo, we swim back up the sewer pipe of despair, while the other way (downstream even) is abundant oceans of peace and LIFE.
¿ Which _w a y_ are _ Y O U _ S w i m m i n g _ ?
¿ _____ W _ H _ Y _____ ?Namaste
starofthesea April 19th, 2008 8:09 pm states, regarding Bush "He is indeed a man to be pitied."
starofthesea you have much more compassion that I. This evil man has no understanding or care 'for the immense suffering his policies have visited upon the planet.' He is either too ignorant or stupid to see that he is being advised by evil people and I believe him when he says he sleeps well. He will never understand the plight of the people as he is rich and believes that he is guided by God.
Do not shoot the president........first.
George may not face justice in this lifetime but the laws of karma are exacting and completely impartial. I actually hope he finds it in his heart to feel remorse for the immense suffering his policies have visited upon the planet. If not, his karmic load is one I shudder to even think about.Be glad you have not been handed so much power. With it comes immense responsibilities and consequences. He is indeed a man to be pitied.
The American people elected this moron to office twice. There is an education necessary for this country and perhaps there will be one person able to try with the help for this country to do it. . .Obama. make no mistake this is the last hope for this country. Aside from all the negatives I hear about him.
Thanks Molly
Canuck has a point. Any talk of freedom is a joke if you are too hungry, or too sick, or too poor to do what you want to do.
Cows in a pasture are free as long as they don't try to go anywhere.
We are going to wind up bragging about our freedom when we have no money to buy food. Our leaders have us figured out. We really will believe anything.
Nietzsche said, "George has no idea of even a fraction of the horror and suffering he has caused. If he did he could never have resisted the temptation to have a .38 for breakfast this morning."
I think George tries to do his best to make sure that he doesn't glimpse the horror his policies have caused but if it starts to creep in, then there are always alcohol and drugs to dull that...
That's how I see it.
"..what steps they needed to take to be sure the children's health program would not displace or "crowd out" private coverage under group health plans..."
The Republicans have always done the bidding for the money for nothing greedy insurance companies. Health care costs more than $2 trillion dollars per year..more than 16% of our GDP and TWICE what other developed counties pay per person.
George has no idea of even a fraction of the horror and suffering he has caused. If he did he could never have resisted the temptation to have a .38 for breakfast this morning.
Doom n Gloom said: Bush will be legally pursued for his war crimes and cruelty for the rest of his days. His life will become hell on Earth
from your mouth to God's ears (if god has ears, if there IS a god) it would be nice to think bush would somehow have justice dealt to him wouldn't it?
"children who lose or drop private coverage must be uninsured for 12 months before they can enroll in the Children's Health Insurance Program"
wow a lot can happen to a child in 12 months. That should be ammended to read "children that SURVIVE uninsured for 12 months...."
Good thing the Pope is in town..he and Bush can compare notes on child abuse as well as their love of FASCISM.
As a Canadian, I cannot imagine being held in Health Slavery to my employer. If you have sick children you are pretty much stuck in your current job in order to maintain your health coverage, no matter what the company does to you (See KBR-Haliburton about the SEXUAL GANG RAPING of helpless employees for an example)
In Canada, a TRULY FREE COUNTRY unlike the USA, I can quit my employer if I choose. I may go broke and have to live on the street, BUT I WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE BEST HEALTHCARE...same as the wealthy.
We prefer even our street people to be healthy here. Untreated epedemics may be handy to get rid of those pesky lower classes in the USA, but they tend to also kill the rich. (See BLACK PLAGUE and AIDS)
Maybe the admin sees this as a precursor to national single payer (fed and states) health insurance for everyone. No corporations involved, not even Blue Cross.It would be too easy. Stamp it out fast!
truthmonger, try this site:
www.thousandreasons.org/reasons, hope you have the time to digest all the skullduggery.
Bush is finally facing powers stronger than his own financial and personal bullying. His life absent love and spirit blossomed in evil. Now, an overwhelming force for positive change is assembling to bring justice to this man and his evil doer associates. He is witnessing the cracks in his foundation and beginning to sense his own vulnerability, perhaps for the first time in his life. Smiles, charms, ignorance, evil, and wealth are no longer escape routes. Bush will be legally pursued for his war crimes and cruelty for the rest of his days. His life will become hell on Earth.
But Bush will make sure his rugrats will get the best of everything.
whatfools - God said "suffer the children" not "make the children suffer" and all for a few more warbucks at that.
It's all in the interpretation, don't you know? The idiot reading "suffer the children" would of course think it meant "make the children suffer."
...violated federal law???
By abusing children? What about God's law?
God said "suffer the children" not "make the children suffer" and all for a few more warbucks at that.
I want to see that list as well. Again when is some one in America going to ..........
"The Bush administration violated federal law last year when..."
This could be said everyday. There are too many violations to list, but I would like to see them all spelled out from day one. Does anyone know of a site that shows this?