CHIP dies again

sigh

Gov. Rick Perry today indicated that he opposes a plan to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program, putting in jeopardy of a veto a measure that has been a top priority this session for children's advocates.

But the CHIP bill appears unlikely to make it to his desk at all. The House today rejected a Senate attempt to attach it to an unrelated measure.

Talking with reporters, Perry was asked if he'd consider having the Legislature take up CHIP if he calls a special session. He said no.

When asked why not, Perry said: "I would probably not be in favor of that expansion even if it came to my desk. I think the members know that. That is not what I consider to be a piece of legislation that has the vast support of the people of the state of Texas."

[...]

The Senate late Wednesday revived the CHIP legislation by attaching it to a measure about newborn screening, and the CHIP bill's Senate author, Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, sent out a press release declaring: "Averitt saves CHIP."

The author of the newborn screening measure, Rep. Paula Pierson, D-Arlington, who supports the CHIP expansion, said today the House is sending the screening bill back to the Senate. That's because the CHIP amendment would have doomed the measure in the House, she said. "It was dead on arrival," Pierson said.

I presume that the likelihood of a point of order, which would have scuttled the bill, was enough to get the House to send it back. Our Governor, as a matter of policy, thinks that having fewer kids be able to get access to health care is a preferable outcome. And for this, he's the darling of those who call themselves Christian activists. Go figure. Rep. Garnet Coleman, in a statement he sent out to the press, speaks for me:

It is unconscionable, in these tough economic times, that Governor Perry will veto legislation that will help working Texas parents purchase insurance for their children. Legislation creating a buy-in program for CHIP passed last night with a 29-2 vote in the Senate, and it passed last month from the House with a vote of 87-55. This bill was specifically written with the strictest "crowd out" language possible to ensure that private health insurance is not substituted by CHIP coverage. The Governor is clearly out of touch with the needs of Texas.

Sadly, that's been that's been the case for a long time. We're all the worse for it.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 28, 2009 to Budget ballyhoo