80th Legislature: Why Did It Take Republicans Three Years To Come Around On Chip?
Vince Leibowitz | Mar 01, 2007 | Comments 1
Though this is a positive development in the CHIP saga, one must wonder why it has taken so long for some legislators to see the light:
A Republican legislator who supported restrictions four years ago that removed thousands of low-income youngsters from the Children’s Health Insurance Program is now ready to undo some of the changes.
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Rep. John Davis of Houston, who on Tuesday filed legislation to lengthen the CHIP enrollment period from six months to one year and ease other restrictions imposed by Republican leaders in 2003 to help bridge a $10 billion revenue shortfall without raising state taxes.
Restoring CHIP coverage will be a good investment in a healthier Texas, said Davis, the House Human Services Committee’s budget and oversight chairman. The state leads the country in the number of residents without health coverage.
Restoring cuts isn’t the only thing that needs to be done, however. As we’ve told you before, more than just more money is necessary to remove the “permanent wall” that is keeping many eligible children off CHIP coverage.
That John Davis has come out and said what he did is especially interesting given that, during the last election cycle, he was caught on tape at a debate essentially advocating the permanent wall.
The San Antonio Express-News notes one major problem with the “permanent wall” is Accenture, although they aren’t the only problem.
Of course, as is the case with Rep. John Davis from Fort Bend County, Garnett Coleman (D-Houston), who is leading the fight to take a wrecking ball to the permanent wall, senses the motive of Republicans in changing their minds:
Coleman said he suspected the motivation was political since several Republicans who supported the CHIP restrictions have since lost races.
“This wasn’t done out of the goodness of someone’s heart. This was forced,” he said.
That has the added virtue of being true. However, even a Republican forced to vote for destroying the permanent wall when they’d rather not is something that could help make CHIP better in the long run.
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Filed Under: 80th Legislature
I sent Rep. Davis a message yesterday to congratulate him on seeing the light on this issue. He’s my Rep. and usually I’m just nagging him about his wrong votes on air quality. Rick Casey’s column today suggested that he did this to try to fade some heat: He can’t come down too hard on poor familys that can’t keep up with their CHIPs eligibility paperwork when he himself can’t keep his campaign accounts straight.