WHY IS GEORGE "DUBYA" CUTTING CHILDRENS HEALTHCARE AND REWARDING HMO'S? 

"There ought to be limits
to freedom..."

— George W. Bush,
commenting on the website
www.gwbush.com

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QUOTES OF THE MONTH:

"I did the right thing. It's a little early to project the amount of money the Legislature will be dealing with, and as you know I hope I'm not here to deal with it. I'm seeking another office." --Governor George W. Bush, on the effect of his tax cuts on the Texas budget. 7/13/00

"If you asked me, life or death, 'You've got to tell me how big the tax cut is, that George is proposing,' I couldn't tell you. I don't give a damn. Because I'm out of it. I'm out of it." --ex-President Bush, recent NYT interview

"If you don't think it's a gamble to put a man in the White House who believes we should have guns in church, who thinks the Taliban is a rock band, who was such a failure as a businessman that his company was nicknamed "El-Busto," who wants to turn our Social Security system into a Wall Street boiler room, who can't name a single thing he disagrees with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson on, who smeared a bona fide hero named John McCain, and whose principle policy proposal is to give America's surplus to the idle rich in the form of a $1.3 trillion tax cut, you're either nuts or a Republican."
... Equal Time co-host Paul Begala, shooting the bull.

CLICK HERE FOR ANOTHER ANALYSIS OF GEORGE "DUBYA" AND HIS TAX PROPOSALS.

WHY IS GEORGE "DUBYA" CUTTING CHILDRENS HEALTHCARE AND REWARDING HMO'S?

Thursday, May 27, 2004 4:25 PM   -- During today's trip to Tennessee [1], President Bush will hold a photo-op at a children's hospital and then attend a $2,000-per-person fundraiser at the home of a top health insurance executive [2]. The two events provide a perfect display of how the President has misled America on health care policy: at the same time that he has tried to slash funding for children's hospitals, his budget lavishes billions of dollars on health insurance companies who fund his campaign.

During today's first event, the President is expected to praise children's hospitals. However, his budget this year proposes to freeze funding for grants to these hospitals, preventing their federal grants from keeping pace with inflation [3]. He also proposes a $94 million cut to the Community Access Program [4] - effectively eliminating another program that provides grants to children's hospitals in need. And he is trying to slash $158 million (68%) from training grants for specialties that include pediatrics [5]. These efforts are consistent with his past policies: last year, the President proposed cutting $86 million (30%) from grants to children's hospitals [6]. And in 2002, he proposed to cut $35 million (14%) from grants for children's hospitals to train pediatricians [7].

After his photo-op at the children's hospital, the President will attend a fundraiser at the home of Clay Jackson [8], an executive [9] at a health insurance company called BB&T [10]. Unlike the children's hospitals whose budgets have been cut, insurance executives like Jackson have a lot to thank the President for. For instance, the President crafted a Medicare bill that gives health insurance companies a new $130 billion subsidy [11], while forcing many seniors off traditional Medicare and into HMOs [12]. The President has also done nothing to address the skyrocketing costs of health care, sitting by last year as HMOs raised premiums by 13% [13] and raked in an extra $6.7 billion from Americans [14].

Sources:

1. "Bush to pump health care, campaign coffers with Nashville visit", WATE.com, 05/27/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37841.

2. "Bush expected in Nashville for Republican fund-raiser", Nashville City Paper, 05/11/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37842.

3. AAMC.org, 02/06/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37843.

4. House Budget Committee, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37844.

5. House Budget Committee, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37844.

6. Democratic Policy Committee, 05/20/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37845.

7. Children's Defense Fund Action Council, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37846.

8. OpenSecrets.Org, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37847.

9. "BB&T to Acquire Nashville-Based Agency", Insurance Journal, 08/04/2003, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37848.

10. BB&T, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37849.

11. F.A.I.R. Medicare, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37850.

12. Public Citizen, 02/13/2003, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37851.

13. "Health costs skyrocket", CNN Money, 09/22/2003, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37852.

14. "HMO profits jumped 52%", CBS Marketwatch, 05/04/2004, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1880274&l=37853.

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