chip on my shoulder

CHIP ON MY SHOULDER

warrenpa.net

i learned how important this program was
the chip program
chip stands for
childrens health insurance plan

it was the way i thought of
for those folks kids that were between
medicaid for kids and the private insurance companies
to get affordable insurance coverage

where i practiced in the austin area
there were a lot of dot com companies in the late 1990s
and the early 2000s
at least there were
before the dot com crash occurred

before the crash there was a lot of money out there
folks were buying ranches like crazy out where we
lived north of austin

then the crash occurred
the ranch selling just froze up

a lot of middle class to upper middle class folks
mostly white
some having transferred to the austin area
were found with no job
some with no home
some with no money
just a lot of debt
stock options were worth nothing

a lot of folks in my practice lost their health insurance
thank goodness
many of the kids did qualify for the chips program
that government handout program for kids insurance
thankfully bipartisan efforts
something that doesnt exist today
established and kept that program going during this time
it was needed greatly again just 6+ years later when
the almost depression occurred

i remember folks would come in
embarrassingly pulling out their chip cards
that government handout program to provide care for kids
pay their copay
to get their sick or injured kid seen
or
to get them their immunizations and or well child exams

a lot of my patients went broke at this time
one little girl looked up at me once with tears in her eyes
they came and took our house

one thing that sort of disgusted me during that time
was the number of doctors that would not take chip
to me it was a black mark on the profession
luckily our large clinic did
we did our part

so this program has helped many a patient
many a working single mom
many a family fallen on hard times
to have health care for their kids

now
here we go again
texas who has one of the worse overall for everybody
healthcare results in the us
their numbers are third world like
especially for kids and women

they just are going to have close to 400,000 kids
possibly loose their chips now
cause congress didnt do their job
of
oking the funding for the programs
which affects those kids in texas
its now until federal funds get oked up to states like texas
to provide the money to keep it going

those numbers are just in texas
i wonder sometimes if those folks have any compassion
if they have trouble sleeping at night
our congress im talking about

surely they are not holding those kids hostage are they
to get some legislation passed

no they wouldnt do that would they

yes i got a chip on my shoulder and i want it to stay there

just do your dang job congress

the organicgreen doctor