Por falar em prioridades

«George Bush vetou a legislação aprovada pelo Congresso para aumentar em 35.000 milhões de dólares o programa federal que assegura que mais de nove milhões de crianças norte-americanas tenham acesso a cuidados de saúde. Uma pequena parte das despesas com a guerra do Iraque.» (Daniel Oliveira)

O que o Daniel não explica é a razão pela qual Bush vetou a lei:

«"The intent of the program was to focus on poorer children, not adults or families earning up to $83,000 a year. It is estimated that if this program were to become law, one out of every three person(s) that would subscribe to the new expanded SCHIP would leave private insurance. The policies of the government ought to be to help poor children and to focus on poor children."»(George W. Bush)

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt said he was "absolutely confident" that the veto will be sustained. Perino said Congress must negotiate a bill that will ensure that children in families that make less than 200 percent of the poverty level are taken care of before the program is expanded beyond them.

"The president is willing to look at ideas" for a compromise "with the focus on the original intent that the neediest children are taken care of first," Perino said.

Under the vetoed plan, government-sponsored health coverage would have been expanded from 6.6 million people, mostly children, to include an additional 4 million kids and 700,000 adults. Currently, 9 percent, or 6 million, of the 43 million uninsured Americans are children under 18. SCHIP is available to people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but are not able to afford private insurance. (Fox News)


Ou seja, a prioridade de Bush são os agregados familiares (na sua maioria crianças mas não só) que ganhem menos de 200% do limiar de pobreza, ou seja, que ganhem menos de 80.000 USD/ano!

Ajudar apenas quem realmente necessita é um bom princípio e tenho muita pena que não seja aplicado por cá.