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Fiscal conservatism should not trump children's health - by Delegate Don C. Perdue
[Jul-19-2006]
Don C. Perdue
The most clever Scoutmaster I ever heard of would routinely bring his patrol leaders in to a room with a number of chairs strewn about in random fashion and tell them to observe the area for several minutes. He then would blindfold each one and tell them to walk from one side to the other, apparently from their memory of where, exactly, the chairs were.
The catch was that, before he turned them loose, he would remove all the chairs. It was then an appreciative audience of Scouts would smother laughter while each steered drunkenly across the empty room.
Afterwards, it was common for some unlearned patrol leader to ask the Scoutmaster, So ... the lesson was to be observant?
No, their mentor would invariably reply. It was to show you how wasteful it is to dodge obstacles that exist only in your mind.
The recent news regarding the Childrens Health Insurance Program expansion parries pretty well any thrust made by the logic of our revered Scoutmaster. In effect, we may well refuse to expand an offering of health care to 4,000-plus children because of an obstacle that does not presently exist. That may become fact.
While it is well that any administration heed its financial mavens where our states budget is concerned, it is my belief that incremental expansion of CHIP only means that several thousand West Virginia children will have to wait, perhaps forever, for access to meaningful health care.
Even in the worst-case scenario, if (and it is a huge if ) the program is not sustained by the feds (Remember, folks, this is an election year, and 2008 looms very large.) our law was written with a clause that allows for reduction of the program with no threat to our state treasury. Therefore, for at least that period until a time when we might have to reduce benefits, those 4,000-plus children would receive better care, resulting in positive long-term effects for their entire lives.
Is that a bad trade? Do we become political pariahs because we stood up and Congress said sit down? Do we not try?
Fiscal conservatism is rightfully seen as a virtue here in this dollar-challenged democracy that is West Virginia. It reduces risk and therefore lets us carve out small victories even when the odds are great. But it cannot be seen as the only gambit to be played where our childrens future is at stake.
Sometimes you just have to stop banging around in the paint in hopes of a free throw. Sometimes, when you dont have the size and the referee is biased, you simply have to take it up from outside the arc. The crowd will be with you. Our crowd.
Perdue is a delegate from Wayne Countys 17th District.
Contact:
Delegate Don Perdue
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