Boyda Praised for Actions on Healthcare

From this Sunday's Wichita Eagle, in an article about the state of Kansas's work toward health reform for children:

In the end, the Kansas Legislature chose wisely by approving a health reform package that will make health care more accessible to children in working-class families, provide expanded medical and dental services for low-income pregnant women, and more adequately fund safety-net clinics across the state that provide medical care for uninsured Kansas families.

[...]

Children are a relatively inexpensive population to insure because they are less likely to have developed costly medical conditions. By insuring children from the start, before the onset of such conditions, health care providers can encourage healthy habits and treat medical concerns before they become costly conditions.

Furthermore, federal resources available to the states provide 72 percent of the funding for the Kansas children's health insurance program. Combined with monthly premiums paid by the families of those children enrolled in the program, the cost to the state is minimal.

Some argued during the session that federal resources would not be available to extend the eligibility level for our state children's health insurance program. That is highly unlikely, considering that Congress -- including our own Sen. Pat Roberts and Reps. Jerry Moran, Nancy Boyda and Dennis Moore -- wholeheartedly has supported reauthorization at a level that will more adequately address uninsured children in working-class families.

Clearly, much remains to be done to improve access to health care in our country, but most Kansans will agree that a path to reform that puts children first is good for children and good for the future of Kansas.

If only Todd Tiahrt & Sam Brownback would get on board...

Boyda votes to override President's SCHIP veto- again

News from Wednesday (from the Wichita Eagle):

President Bush reportedly was “pleased” that Congress failed Wednesday to override his veto of an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. No doubt the estimated 4 million children the legislation could have helped aren’t as happy.

The bill, which Bush called “misguided,” has broad support in both chambers and has the bipartisan backing of state governors. And as Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has noted, most of the criticisms of the bill are phony, including Bush’s current line that SCHIP pushes people out of the private insurance market.

Nonetheless, the House failed again to override Bush’s veto, this time by 15 votes. Reps. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, and Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, voted to override. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, voted not to override. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, didn’t vote.

All of us agree Congress has to continue working to override the President's irresasonible veto of SCHIP, and we'd like to thank Senator Pat Roberts, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda and Congressman Dennis Moore for their vote.

The price of Republican priorities: Children going hungry

Republicans in Congress and the White House have prevented most of this year's spending bills from becoming law.

The federal budget is so huge and deals with numbers so large it takes a significant problem with it to make it small enough for the average person to care about. Such a situation is about to hit the very most vulnerable Kansans- those who rely on the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program (WIC) to purchase necessary foodstuffs. We aren't being dramatic when we say children could starve to death without WIC.

According to a story that ran in today's Topeka Capital-Journal, if President George W. Bush's budget is accepted, WIC in Kansas stands to suffer a $7 million shortfall, which would force 6,000 people off the rolls, and would require an additional 2,000 people be turned away in 2008.

Put a different way, if the President's budget is approved without any increases, an estimated 8,000 children in Kansas will go hungry.

This problem is the same problem we see across the board when it comes to domestic necessities, and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda hits the nail on the head:

"This isn't just about WIC. This is about Head Start, veteran's funding, social security, everything.

"The bottom line is, the president has said he will veto any bill that increases spending. The Democrats have tried to compromise, compromise, compromise, and there have been no compromises with this White House."

First SCHIP, now WIC. The Republicans screamed and yelled the Democrats were using children during the SCHIP debate, saying they were trying to make the Republican Party look cruel and like it didn't care about the real hardship their policies were putting on people.

The obvious contempt the Republicans in Congress and the White House have for the poor is stunning. We don't need to use anything to make that point.

(Photo from, and more information available at kdheks.org)