HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Close to 700 TRILLION dollars for FY '07. Boggles the mind, don't it?
Posted on 02/19/2007 7:17:48 AM PST by Graybeard58
Connecticut has a multitude of social ills, and Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposes to address one the old-fashioned, liberal Democratic way: throw more money at it. Her 2007-08 budget proposal contains $55 million to pay for or subsidize HUSKY program premiums for babies born to mothers without health insurance.
Her reasoning is that during her administration, 2,800 babies have been born in Connecticut without health insurance: "That number should be zero." But Gov. Rell's proposal proves that demagoguery doesn't make for good public policy. According to data from government and industry sources, mothers who never have been married are six times more likely to be uninsured. So her plan would cater almost exclusively to single mothers.
Not to be outdone, Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, wants the state to pay for disposable diapers for children in poverty. Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Branford, thinks that's a fine idea: "If a baby doesn't have a fresh diaper, it's a form of child abuse." (Child abuse? Call the Poopie Police!)
Sen. Harp's proposal, too, is aimed mostly at single mothers. Children of never-married mothers are five times more likely to be impoverished than children of married women, and the median annual income for woman-headed households with children is roughly one-fourth that of two-parent families.
About a quarter of this year's state budget, nearly $4.3 billion, finances the state's social-service bureaucracy -- "the safety net" -- and much of the money, as well as hundreds of millions more scattered throughout the budget, subsidizes single motherhood and its tragic consequences.
Now Grandma Rell and Huggies Harp want to boost those appropriations, and in the process tell women who already can't afford to take care of themselves that if they make one of the worst life choices possible, the state will pay to deliver their babies, insure them and their out-of-wedlock children indefinitely, and diaper their young ones until they're potty trained. (Of course, there's no chance the single mothers might spend their diaper dollars on cigarettes, alcohol or illegal drugs, and surely they won't feed their benefits into slot machines at the Indian casinos.)
Sen. Harp is a lost cause, but one would think Gov. Rell would understand how marriage boosts financial security and the welfare of children.
So rather than rewarding costly, destructive and immoral behavior, she should be pursuing policies that build barriers to single motherhood and foster lasting familial relationships that benefit everyone.
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Always a refreshing read. Thank you!
If you build it, they will come. More handouts means more people show up for handouts. And it never ends...
"Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Branford, thinks that's a fine idea: 'If a baby doesn't have a fresh diaper, it's a form of child abuse.' (Child abuse? Call the Poopie Police!)"
Why not just provide taxpayer-funded Nannies for all of these single Moms? Most of them are teens (still a child, IMHO) and wouldn't Mom CHANGING a poopy diaper be considered 'Child Abuse' too?
*Rolleyes*
It's grampa abuse when I have to do it.
:)
Foxwoods Casino must be behind this 100%.
I've said it before and I'll say it again--casinos are a great way to tax the poor.
Rell is no Republican. She is a liberal. The state should pay for birth control pills, not diapers.
Given the liberal propensity for stroking their own consciences with OPM, the more unjustifiable the better, you can now take a random guess from where the bulk of new applicants will come.
How about getting the parents (including fathers) of these babies to contribute toward the diapers ... and health insurance?
That would mean having to take responsibility for their actions.........
most single moms i know also breed bad kids. but my judgement is skewed due to the type of single moms i run into. my own single mother, however, did a good job.
Just how much of our Federal Budget is spent on single motherhood? I read that over 10 Billion is spent by the Office of Child Support Enforcement to collect child support, and that over 16 Billion was spent on TANF. Does anyone know the total amount of tax dollars that is used "For the Children?"
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Close to 700 TRILLION dollars for FY '07. Boggles the mind, don't it?
How is your math? Do you know what that works out to for each man, woman and child?
700 billion dollars is about $2,300 for (and from) every man, woman and child in the country.
The reality is even worse, as that 700 billion dollars is just the federal side and doesn't include state and local level welfare such as the program discussed in this article.
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