Children's Defense Fund Founder: McCain Will Leave Millions Of Children Uninsured

[maddezmom]

Over nine million children lack health insurance, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. The consequences can be grievous. Twelve-year-old Deamonte Diver died when an infection from his abscessed tooth spread to his brain; he had no insurance and his mother could not afford $80 to have the tooth pulled. Devante Johnson, age 14, died when his health insurance lapsed -- due to a bureaucratic snafu -- right in the middle of his treatment for kidney disease.

Children should not be falling through the cracks like this. In 1997 Sen. Ted Kennedy (D), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spearheaded S-CHIP, a joint federal-state effort to subsidize health coverage for over six million children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private coverage.

Why, then, are so many children still without health care? In 2007 Congress voted to expand S-CHIP to include another 3.5 million children, but the bill was vetoed by President Bush, who sneaked behind closed doors to cast his veto without media coverage. Sen. Harry Reed (D) called this decision "heartless."

The candidates are divided on the issue of how to expand health care for children. For example, Barack Obama supported expansion of S-CHIP; John McCain opposed it. S-CHIP will come up again for reauthorization in early 2009.

To learn more about what's at stake in this arena, OffTheBus spoke with Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, the nation's strongest voice for children and families. In 2000 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a board member of the Robin Hood Foundation, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Is the U.S. experiencing a children's healthcare crisis?

more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-tucker/childrens-defense-fund-fo_b_128878.html