The Vegetable Dish

• Take Action on the Issue Now
• Synopsis
• Discussion Topics
• Other Resources

Take Action on the Issue Now: Make Covering Children a Top National Priority

Sign the petition to tell Congress and the President that healthcare for all children should be a national priority.

Tell the President and Congress it's not acceptable to have 9 million kids without healthcare coverage, and millions more with inadequate coverage. And it's not okay to have 46 million total uninsured Americans. In our country, healthcare issues shouldn't be a leading cause of bankruptcy, and our childhood mortality rates shouldn't rank in at a pathetic 37th of all nations, according to the World Health Organization. This is simply not acceptable.

This petition is part of the Campaign for Children's Health Care, a national public education campaign involving more than forty organizations. Your petition signature will be shared with Families USA, a non-profit organization and Children's Health Care Campaign leader, which is collecting petition signatures from multiple organizations to deliver to the President and Congress in the spring of 2007.

*Thanks to Families USA for bringing us this timely issue!

Synopsis

One way to judge the strength of a nation is how it cares for its children—and America is falling short. 45 million Americans and 9 million kids don’t have health insurance; many more are underinsured. In fact, it is estimated that 18,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health insurance (Institute of Medicine Report). Half of bankruptcies--impacting 2 million people annually--are related to medical bills, and most of those people had health insurance at the time that their bankrupting illness began.

We believe ALL Americans should have comprehensive health insurance, and we should begin by insuring all children. Most children are relatively healthy, which makes insuring them cheaper and politically easier than insuring other groups. Once all kids are insured, we can work on insuring everyone.

We have to fix our failing healthcare system. This is one of the reasons why MomsRising is working with more than forty other organizations right now on the Campaign for Children's Health Care.

Tell the President and Congress it's not acceptable to have 9 million kids without healthcare coverage; and millions more with inadequate coverage. It's not okay to have 46 million Americans without healthcare at all. And, in our country, healthcare issues shouldn't be a leading cause of bankruptcy.

Linked to our lack of general healthcare coverage is the fact that childhood mortality rates in the U.S. rank in at a pathetic 37th of all nations, according to the World Health Organization. This is simply not acceptable.

GAINING MOMENTUM BY WORKING TOGETHER: The Campaign for Children's Health Care is a national public education campaign, formed to help spread the word about children without healthcare coverage. Your petition signature will be shared with Families USA, a non-profit organization that is a lead organization for the Children's Health Care Campaign. They are collecting petition signatures from multiple organizations to deliver to the President and Congress in the spring of 2007.

Sign the petition to make sure our elected leaders know that Americans want all children to have healthcare in our country.

Discussion Topics

• What are the missed opportunities in an uninsured kid’s life?
• How does the health insurance status of your family affect your daily life? If you have health insurance, can you imagine how your life and the lives of your kids would change without it? If you currently cannot afford coverage, what sacrifices are you and your children forced to make?
• It is not our children’s fault that they don’t have health insurance. What can we do as a country to make sure they receive the health care they need?
• If we want to make covering all of America’s children a national priority, what are the best ways to get people’s attention and influence media?

Other Resources