Mike Leavitt, Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, was on C-Span yesterday morning defending Bush's threat of vetoing the increase in the program paying for health insurance for children, known as CHIP or S-CHIP.
Leavitt claims he and Bush want affordable health care for all. The one thing he does not address is how poorer families can afford to pay for their children's health needs. Leavitt and Bush believe the government should not provide the funds. That means that families in lower economic brackets will never obtain health insurance for their children.
Leavitt is a big hypocrite. The Salt Lake Tribune reported this past Sunday how Leavitt's family farms has received over $200,000 in government subsidies over the last eight years. Reports Dawn House for the SL Trib:
"Another Utah millionaire receiving farm subsidies is Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt, a former insurance executive. Leavitt owned a 13 percent interest in a subsidized farming operation in Wayne County, which received $200,887 in disaster, crop and dairy supports. The payments started in 1999, six years after Leavitt became Utah governor (he left office in 2003).
"Leavitt sold off his holdings in 2005 from his family's insurance business and cattle operations, valued at a minimum of $5.1 million, to avoid conflicts of interest once he became chief of the federal agency. He retains a 13 percent interest in Leavitt Land and Investment, valued at $1 million to $5 million, which received conservation subsidies on land in Clark County, Nev., in 2000, 2001 and 2005 totaling $32,340."
So here's Leavitt railing against the federal government paying for health costs for poor kids at the same time as he deposits the hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal farm subsidies into his family's bank account. How big a hypocrite is Mike Leavitt!
Leavitt claims he and Bush want affordable health care for all. The one thing he does not address is how poorer families can afford to pay for their children's health needs. Leavitt and Bush believe the government should not provide the funds. That means that families in lower economic brackets will never obtain health insurance for their children.
Leavitt is a big hypocrite. The Salt Lake Tribune reported this past Sunday how Leavitt's family farms has received over $200,000 in government subsidies over the last eight years. Reports Dawn House for the SL Trib:
"Another Utah millionaire receiving farm subsidies is Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt, a former insurance executive. Leavitt owned a 13 percent interest in a subsidized farming operation in Wayne County, which received $200,887 in disaster, crop and dairy supports. The payments started in 1999, six years after Leavitt became Utah governor (he left office in 2003).
"Leavitt sold off his holdings in 2005 from his family's insurance business and cattle operations, valued at a minimum of $5.1 million, to avoid conflicts of interest once he became chief of the federal agency. He retains a 13 percent interest in Leavitt Land and Investment, valued at $1 million to $5 million, which received conservation subsidies on land in Clark County, Nev., in 2000, 2001 and 2005 totaling $32,340."
So here's Leavitt railing against the federal government paying for health costs for poor kids at the same time as he deposits the hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal farm subsidies into his family's bank account. How big a hypocrite is Mike Leavitt!
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