John Shadegg: “I wish this bill was a debate about the uninsured children of the near poor or the working poor. But that is not what it…”

“I wish this bill was a debate about the uninsured children of the near poor or the working poor. But that is not what it is about. It is about cutting Medicare to provide health care services to middle- and upper middle-income children and to provide health care services to adults. The median income in America, listen carefully, is $45,000. This bill will extend SCHIP benefits to families earning $60,000 and up to $80,000. That means it does not provide money for health insurance to the poor or the near poor or the working poor. We are all for that. That is why we initiated the program. We just don't think it ought to go to upper middle-income Americans. Sixty-one percent of the children who are in the SCHIP program today had private health insurance before the program was created. They dropped their private health insurance to take SCHIP. Is that what generous, compassionate Americans want to do for the poor? I don't think so.”