Tiny Hostages

I’m not a devoted movie-watcher, but I’ve seen a few films more times than I’m comfortable admitting, probably because they run on an infinite loop, available whenever I turn on the television. One repeated movie is “The Blindside,” the story of Michael Oher, whose life is transformed from homeless teen to NFL star through the tenacity of mama bear Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock). In another re-run king, the Cleveland Indians have beaten the Yankees at least once every week since 1989, as Willie May Hayes crosses the plate in “Major League’s” ninth inning miracle.

Between now and Christmas, “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Story” may nudge “The Blind Side” and “Major League” off the top rung of repeaters, but I’m sure “Speed,” starring Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper, will continue to pop up on our screens without any effort on our part. Once viewed, it’s hard to forget the story of an LAPD cop who attempts to rescue the passengers on a city bus rigged with a bomb that will explode if the bus can’t maintain a speed of fifty mph. While there are other hostage movies, perhaps no silver screen rescue is as improbable as the one orchestrated by Reeves, aided by Bullock’s nerves of steel.

Keeping that speeding busload of hostages in mind, let me switch gears from an LA bus to medical coverage for 8.9 million children across the United States of America in the year 2017. While Medicaid provided medical care for children and adults whose income was below poverty level ($32,319 for a family of four in Ohio today), that income cutoff still left many children without medical coverage. So in 1997,  the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was signed into law, authorizing matching federal dollars for states to provide health coverage to children whose family income was too high for Medicaid, but who couldn’t afford private insurance. Known in Ohio as Ohio Healthy Start, the program has been a literal lifesaver for our children.

In recent years, CHIP has received bipartisan support, but at the end of September 2017, federal funding for this program was allowed to expire. For thirty-plus days, our children – including the three kids living in the house next door and our grandkids residing in Chicago or Wyoming, are being held hostage explosive-rigged busses, speeding from sea to shining sea. Yet after an initial blip, their plight has dropped below our public radar. Thus far, the federal government is refusing to pay the ransom.

I’m hoping that by the time these words are printed, they will be unnecessary, that Congress will have done its duty and protected our kids. A month later, they’re reportedly working on a fix, but I’m not holding my breath, as the process feels all too familiar. The speeding busses are already crowded with those who pay for their medical coverage through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, and the Dreamers living in limbo over the status of DACA, and now our kids join the throng, needing NICU stays, treatment for chronic ear infections, or even well-baby visits. The foot is still on the gas pedal, and there doesn’t seem to be a plan to get the hostages off the busses.

I jotted down this unsettling thought some time ago, origin unknown (or forgotten). “Sometimes, negotiations include the tactic of threatening to kill the hostages when the hostages are already dead.” I’ve been thinking of that this past month as well. Pray God that bitter ending won’t become a reality.

Instead, it’s time for a better ending, like the one in O. Henry’s classic tale, “The Ransom of Red Chief.” Two small-time criminals kidnap ten-year-old Johnny, the red-headed son of Ebenezer Dorset, and hold him for ransom. By the end of the iconic short story, the kidnappers gratefully pay the father to take the boy back, because this young “Dennis the Menace” has made life unbearable for them. Picture Kevin’s adventures with the Wet Bandits in “Home Alone” and you’ll get the idea.

Yet this is no movie. It’s reality for millions of our brothers and sisters. It’s time for Washington to stop taking hostages and empty out the busses.