U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg on Wednesday voted against House Democrats' bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, saying it's based on an "extremist political ideology" to expand government-run health care....
"They (Democrats) are pushing forward an agenda of eliminating affordable, reliable health insurance from private providers and shifting to an inefficient, costly, government-run health care plan," he said in a statement late Wednesday.
It's issues like this that remind you that Rehberg is one of the richest members (worth between $10 and $50 million) of Congress, a notorious rich man's club. He obviously has no idea of what Montanans actually experience in their daily lives.
And, as Shane points out, what Dennis is calling "extremist" is actually mainstream:
Well, most people in this country support universal health insurance, at a super-majority rate of 2 to 1. You can imagine that they sure as hell support healthcare for children....
By this line of thought, the American people follow "extremist political ideology" by a margin of 2 to 1? 66% of American's are `extremists'?
Of course the biggest irony in Rehberg's stance is that Congressional representatives enjoy some fine health care coverage - provided by the government!
Members of Congress enjoy excellent health benefits under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). For 2002, Representative Hoeffel could choose from 11 different health care plans under FEHBP. All plans offer prescription drug benefits.
The government (meaning taxpayers like you and me) pays 72% of the average premium but not more than 75%. Your Congressman saw the remaining 25% deducted from his $12,500 monthly paycheck (also paid for by you and me)....
Among the 11 health plans, the federal employee share of monthly premiums ranges from a low of $55.58 per month to a high of $354.08 per month....
Wow! Now that's affordable! My payments...were...easily more than twice that, for less coverage! (Of course, I don't make payments now, because my employer dropped me from coverage.) I wish I had Dennis' health care coverage! Sign me up!
Gee. I wonder if Dennis finds his own health care "inefficient" and "costly"? And shouldn't all Americans enjoy the same kind of coverage that our representatives do?
I suspect once the sh*t starts hitting the fan, Representative Rehberg will do an about turn. Kinda like he did on Real ID. It's dang hard being a radical conservative in this day and age!
