keyneswasdrunk:

[Snip]

I cite those as evidence that the poor pay for “free” government programmes in many other ways that are essentially hidden. There is no such thing as a free lunch and nothing will ever change that.

Ah, but what if S-Chip and Medicare never existed in the first place? What if those laws were never passed and those programmes were never created? Do you suppose it would mean that millions of American children would simply perish from preventable illness? That’s apparently the alternative. Heavens what ever did families do before 1997, the year of S-Chip’s creation. What a time of misery the early 90s must have been for families with children. How sad the parade of tiny coffins must have been. My point is that while the benefits of government programmes are obvious the costs of these programmes are not so obvious and may only become apparent long afterwards. Wealthy people generally have the means to avoid these costs. The poor don’t.

Most of what you wrote was just repeating your assertions, but this is just so terribly myopic that I have to respond. Your flippant attitude tells me that, for whatever reason, you think the answer to “Do you suppose it would mean that millions of American children would simply perish from preventable illness?” is no. What makes you think that? Yes, childhood mortality has decreased significantly due to the SCHIP program- that is a fact. So, be as flippant as you want but please be aware that you’re making fun of despair families felt as they buried those “tiny coffins” that’s real, and measured.

Edit: just to be clear, the study determined that “Expanded Medicaid and SCHIP eligibility was significantly related to the decline in external-cause mortality”. In other words: without Medicaid and SCHIP, more children would have died.

Also, sure, the poor pay part of the costs of Medicaid, SCHIP and Medicare through payroll taxes, but most of those costs are shouldered by those who are better-off (as they should be). Ignoring the redistributive nature of government health care programs is really missing a large part of the point of those programs.