City Paper Joins TTR in Stigmatizing Funds for Children's Health

NCP reporter John Rodgers drones through an entire screed against U.S. House and Senate bills that would raise cigarette taxes without making more than one reference to their purpose: to include 5 million of the currently uninsured 7 million children of working poor families on health insurance rolls. And even Rodgers' one reference is contemptuously couched in the suggestion that the children's coverage is a goal "in name" only.

He omits the fact that uninsured children are twice as likely not to receive health care as are insured children. Omission may be the necessary choice because there is no way to argue against taxing people more for endangering their health in order to cover children--who should be entitled to basic health care--without sounding callous and vicious toward those who have no control over the social stratum into which they were born.

The City Paper toes the line of the Tennessee Tax Revolt, which is focused more on the expense of covering children's health and less on the necessity of covering more children's health. TTR points out that the tax will accelerate the decrease in revenue as smokers are motivated to quit (which assumes a lot about the power of smoking addictions). But even if it is the case, then motivating smokers to stop is a good thing. Right? And isn't the risk of a declining revenue source one worth taking if we can cover a majority of the children currently not covered and not likely to receive proper health care? Why should children have to suffer today in order to give us more time to locate a source not liable to decline (which TTR is likely to oppose tomorrow anyway).

Oh, and while we are on this subject, I should point out that both of Tennessee's Republican Senators voted in favor of the U.S. Senate bill, which calls for taxing cigarettes almost 20 cents more than the House version. Right now I have a lot more admiration for Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker than I do for Blue Dog Democrat Jim Cooper, who voted against insuring 5 million more children.