Sexy seniors may be excited, but the rest of the nation is wondering at the administration’s skewed priorities. The latest: According to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government is planning to spend almost $2 billion in the next decade on male impotence drugs.
What could $2 billion of taxpayer money buy besides a heck of a lot of Viagra?
For starters, it could restore the entire $1.1 billion in federal funds taken away from the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Today, 8.4 million kids lack health insurance. An estimated 5 million uninsured children are eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid but aren’t enrolled. (A study by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation shows between April 2003 and July 2004, due to a lack of funding, nearly half of the states in the U.S. took some measure to make it harder to sign up for or stay in SCHIP.) Using $1.1 billion of the money which is currently slated to pay for Viagra could insure an additional 750,000 children.
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