Obama Speaks, Pelosi Winces

[bdeutsch]

I am simply not smart enough to make any meaningful contribution to the various views expressed in this discussion string.

Having said this, and parroting something I stated earlier, I believe every U.S. Citizen should enjoy some level of health coverage. How this is paid for however, is where I think the discussion becomes interesting.

In regards to the discussion surrounding whether coverage should include all U.S. residents versus U.S. Citizens, there is some precedent that the Federal government uses today that might answer this question.

I have a close friend who runs a county WIC (Woman, Infants & Children) program. WIC is a federally funded program, that is administered by your state and executed at a county level. Think of it as a kind of specialized food stamp program that is targeted at making sure that expecting low income moms, and their infants out to a designated age, have access to nutritious food. Multiple studies have shown that the cost of this program is more than offset by the health problems avoided by providing a proper diet to both mom and infant.

What does this have to do with the raging debate on who specifically will be covered by a new healthcare program? This is the bit that relates to precedent. Based on existing federal guidelines, no member of WIC can ask a partipant about their citizenship status; simply not allowed. I would submit, and again this is just my opinion, that this procedure might set a precedent for any evolving healthcare coverage program implemented by the federal government. I do not intend to suggest that this is either good/bad, just that, at least in this case, there is some reason to believe that as this story plays out and based on existing federal precedent, that both citizens and non-citizens could ultimately benefit from a revamp of the way healthcare is administered and executed in the U.S.