Spring Break
War spending hurts health care
Issue date: 3/22/07 Section: Opinions
- Page 1 of 1
As of March 10, Peachcare for Kids, Georgia's health insurance program for children of low-income families, will stop accepting new applicants.
President Bush, in an effort to reign in the looming federal budget deficit, has submitted to Congress a budget that cuts the funding of programs such as Peachcare. It is precisely because of this uncertainty that the directors of Peachcare have decided to stop accepting new applicants, thereby denying health insurance to thousands of Georgia children.
I am the father of a strapping four-year-old boy. He has always been on a private health insurance plan, but the plan is very expensive and provides inadequate coverage.
The time has come for his first visit to the dentist, however such things are not covered by his private insurance plan. Because of this, we are seeking to put him on Peachcare. Whether his application will have been processed by the March 10 deadline is anybody's guess.
My situation is an example of the growing and pervasive costs of the War in Iraq. Already thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars have been sacrificed for nothing. Any benefits have yet to materialize.
The war has only proven detrimental thus far. We have squandered the moral support of Sept. 11, emboldened our enemies (e.g. Iran) and created a terrorist haven in Iraq.
The invasion of Iraq did not stop some horrible humanitarian crisis - there wasn't such - but instead succeeded in starting one.
All of this was sacrificed for a completely elective and unnecessary war. Saddam Hussein was weaponless and isolated. In any case, the question of Saddam having weapons of mass destruction was insufficient in deciding whether he should be overthrown. Needed too was evidence of his intention to use them, but proof of this was utterly lacking.
The history of Saddam shows him to be a man who loved only himself and his power. He actually headed the only secular government in the Middle East, fully equipped with a western-style court system. His government was secular because Islam was the only force strong enough to unite the people of Iraq against him.
A man so self-absorbed and ever suspicious of Islam would never be as gutsy as to give a highly prized commodity, such as a weapon of mass destruction, to a radical Islamic terrorist group - especially not for use against a country that threatened to wipe him off the face of the earth a few years before.
Freedom and democracy are high ideals, but without such things as basic security, jobs, clean water and food, they are meaningless.
Iraq has yet to be truly free and democratic. We have failed in providing it the means for such.
Granted, the Bush administration has continually made plans and earmarked funds for restoring basic services. However, none of this has mattered because of its incompetence in establishing law and order.
After fours years and nine failed plans for reconstruction, I believe it's time we support our troops and oppose Bush's latest exercise in futility.
- Chris Breault is a graduate student from Columbus majoring in philosophy
President Bush, in an effort to reign in the looming federal budget deficit, has submitted to Congress a budget that cuts the funding of programs such as Peachcare. It is precisely because of this uncertainty that the directors of Peachcare have decided to stop accepting new applicants, thereby denying health insurance to thousands of Georgia children.
I am the father of a strapping four-year-old boy. He has always been on a private health insurance plan, but the plan is very expensive and provides inadequate coverage.
The time has come for his first visit to the dentist, however such things are not covered by his private insurance plan. Because of this, we are seeking to put him on Peachcare. Whether his application will have been processed by the March 10 deadline is anybody's guess.
My situation is an example of the growing and pervasive costs of the War in Iraq. Already thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars have been sacrificed for nothing. Any benefits have yet to materialize.
The war has only proven detrimental thus far. We have squandered the moral support of Sept. 11, emboldened our enemies (e.g. Iran) and created a terrorist haven in Iraq.
The invasion of Iraq did not stop some horrible humanitarian crisis - there wasn't such - but instead succeeded in starting one.
All of this was sacrificed for a completely elective and unnecessary war. Saddam Hussein was weaponless and isolated. In any case, the question of Saddam having weapons of mass destruction was insufficient in deciding whether he should be overthrown. Needed too was evidence of his intention to use them, but proof of this was utterly lacking.
The history of Saddam shows him to be a man who loved only himself and his power. He actually headed the only secular government in the Middle East, fully equipped with a western-style court system. His government was secular because Islam was the only force strong enough to unite the people of Iraq against him.
A man so self-absorbed and ever suspicious of Islam would never be as gutsy as to give a highly prized commodity, such as a weapon of mass destruction, to a radical Islamic terrorist group - especially not for use against a country that threatened to wipe him off the face of the earth a few years before.
Freedom and democracy are high ideals, but without such things as basic security, jobs, clean water and food, they are meaningless.
Iraq has yet to be truly free and democratic. We have failed in providing it the means for such.
Granted, the Bush administration has continually made plans and earmarked funds for restoring basic services. However, none of this has mattered because of its incompetence in establishing law and order.
After fours years and nine failed plans for reconstruction, I believe it's time we support our troops and oppose Bush's latest exercise in futility.
- Chris Breault is a graduate student from Columbus majoring in philosophy
Viewing Comments 1 - 9 of 13
Megan
posted 3/22/07 @ 11:22 AM EST
I'm amazed you want the government to pay for your child's visit to the dentist, so you choose to blame the President because he might not be able to get coverage from a state program designed for low income families who cannot afford any other health insurance. (Continued…)
Zaid
posted 3/22/07 @ 2:20 PM EST
I AM AMAZED that you think that public healthcare (much cheaper and more efficient than privat healthcare) should be more important than bombing the hell out of Iraq. (Continued…)
Joseph
posted 3/22/07 @ 3:48 PM EST
The only thing I would like to see in any article like this is a better connection between cutting public healthcare funds and funding the deficit. I think that your article would have been much better if you had cut it off around a third of the way down and left out all of the political mumbo-jumbo. (Continued…)
CBL
posted 3/22/07 @ 5:33 PM EST
How does one construct an argument to criticize the costs of health care services by stating one's problem and then attempting to blame it on another failed U. (Continued…)
Herodotus
posted 3/22/07 @ 5:44 PM EST
Rather than complaining about your own inability to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor, you should instead find some gainful employment. Once you start to work and produce value you will earn the right to procure the services you so desire. (Continued…)
mbecker908
mbecker908
posted 3/22/07 @ 6:18 PM EST
What an amazing demonstration of Chutzpah. You are a grad student in a major that will adequately prepare you to do nothing but work for an institution of "higher learning". (Continued…)
Chris Breault
posted 3/22/07 @ 7:41 PM EST
As usual you people decline to make comments of any real substance and instead engage childish name-calling, but so be it.
In response to the attacks upon my field of study, supposed career path and it's assumed complete lack of social good: Studying philosophy has enhanced and sharpened my ability to think. (Continued…)
matthew
posted 3/23/07 @ 10:20 AM EST
Oh, silly Fred. You, more than any of us here in this forum, should understand that the degree to which an economy adheres to stict capitalism defines the degree to which some people will have to be poor. (Continued…)
Brian
posted 3/23/07 @ 2:44 PM EST
Chris, Chris, Chris!!! I am guessing you are a socialist who wants global health care as well. You obviously have no common sense to think like a capitalist, no wonder you are majoring in philosophy. (Continued…)
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