The Montana legislature is hammering out a deal on taxes. Here's the basics. Over the biennium, a $1 billion surplus is predicted. We're looking at $150 million in permanent tax cuts.
The cost of expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program in the way the Senate approved costs a whopping $600,000 each year for the next two years.
Relatively speaking, it's tiny. It's also health care for children, which really is an investment (just the same as early maintenance work on a car is an investment).
There's a lot of arguments against insuring children. None of them are very strong. We all end up picking up the tab for uninsured children who end up in the emergency room. Children who don't get regular check-ups are likely to be less healthy as adults, meaning they're more likely to be uninsured emergency room visitors as adults. And while it's nice to play the personal responsibility card, it's ridiculous to think a 5-year-old should be responsible for her or his own health insurance.
This battle is in the House now. Hopefully we can put an end to this and raise the eligibility levels for CHIP.
