Eaves provided details of his plan, Kid Care, to The Clarion-Ledger last week. Modeled after an Illinois program, it seeks to offer affordable coverage for children whose families earn too much to qualify for state and federal help but not enough to afford private insurance.
It is the most detailed policy proposal to come from either Eaves or Republican Gov. Haley Barbour this election season. They face off in the Nov. 6 general election.
Barbour appears to be running a campaign based on perceived inevitability. He takes the postion that of course the folks will support him and has staked out no new positions for a new term nor has he made any promises.
Most advocacy groups unfamiliar with Eaves' health care plan held off on predicting whether it would work, while others questioned its feasibility. But they and political watchers gave Eaves high marks for raising the issue.Eaves has a rare passion for helping people and believes that what has often been an empty campaign slogan "Mississippi Can Do Better."
"A candidate addressing a real, identified health need in Mississippi is rare," said Roy Mitchell, director of the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program.
Eaves' plan mirrors "All Kids," a program Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich successfully pushed through that state's Democratic-controlled Legislature in less than a year.
Launched in 2006, the program builds on Illinois' Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program but is funded solely by the state. Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington have created similar programs based on Illinois' plan.
Like that plan, Eaves' proposal allows families to purchase coverage on a sliding income basis. A family of four that earns $50,000 a year would pay a monthly premium of $40 per child and a maximum annual co-pay of $100. A single parent earning $34,000 also would fall into that category. For two or more children, the maximum monthly premium would be $80.
We don't have to be last this time. We can lead with Pennsylvania and Washington state to insure all our children. John Eaves can take us there. Haley Barbour who has a clear history of dismantling public health programs simply won't.
If the Barbour Campaign would like to post press releases here I will gladly publish them if they sign their name to them. Anonymous press releases will not be published.
ReplyDeleteor you could seek them out
ReplyDeleteI sent the same e-mails to Democratic and Republican campaigns requesting to be added to e-mail lists. Several Republican campaigns did, most (like Barbour) didn't.
ReplyDeleteGhb sent an email attacking the plan without backing it up. Dismantle that please.
ReplyDeleteM.
You wrote:
ReplyDeleteEaves has a rare passion for helping people ...
I'm curious as to what you mean by this. Mississippi leads the nation in charitable giving; I know lots of people who give their time and money to helping people; they don't do it on commission, and they didn't become multi-millionaires from it. Some gave up jobs that had multi-millionaire prospects so they could do charity work full-time.
So what is Eaves' passion for helping people, and how is it especially rare? Does he have a passion for helping people that, say, Delbert Hosemann does not? (Hosemann having a strong record of community volunteering in the Jackson area, as anyone familiar with his record knows.) Does he have a passion for helping people that, say, Barbara Blackmon does not?
This is the show-don't-tell dimension of Eaves' campaign that's hurting him, I think. He tells us what his values are; his supporters tell us what a great guy he is; and then we look at his resumé and what do we see? Go to the bio page on his web site and you see how he went to Israel, how important Jesus is in his life, how he sang in a choir as a kid. I'm not saying he has to brag about his charity work--charity work you do so you can run for governor is surely the lowest rung on the ladder of tzedakah--but if his life has been defined by a commitment to service, shouldn't there be some record of that other than his lucrative law practice?
Now, I know what you're going to say here: Barbour's doesn't have that record, either. And you're right. But Barbour's people aren't going around saying he has "a rare passion for helping people," or talking about what a great Christian he is. Eaves is running, more or less, on identity--"this is who I am." And his identity, other than the fact that he's a lawyer, a father, and he goes to church, is a mystery wrapped up in positive adjectives. If he wants to win, there needs to be a story. It doesn't have to begin "My father was born in Kenya...," but there has to be a story.