5.9 - Steps for Change

There are certain steps that must be taken to address this crisis. To start, all children in the United States must have health coverage. As terrible as the lack of healthcare coverage is for adults, it’s unconscionable not to protect our children, and it is extremely short-sighted to leave children without medical coverage. Plainly said, providing easily accessed healthcare to children will save us medical costs in the short and long term. It will also enable those children to learn and grow into the citizens that are going to be supporting us as we retire in the future. As Buist points out, “Covering kids is not just about health. Getting children access to healthcare has ramifications in almost every area of their lives, and the lives of their families.”

The Motherhood Manifesto promotes basic, highly interrelated steps to better support parents and children. Healthcare is a core part of this support. The fact of the matter is that motherfriendly work would be more available if we had some kind of universal healthcare. Our childcare providers would be better able to stay working at the jobs they love if they had healthcare. Minimum wage workers would not be quite so vulnerable if they had healthcare. Finally, every child’s parent also needs access to healthcare. As the flight attendants always reminds us right before an airplane takes off, “In the event of a loss of pressure, place the oxygen mask securely over your own face before assisting your child.” Point being, it is hard to take care of our children if we are incapacitated.

Why do we first call for universal healthcare for all children, and not for all Americans? Restructuring our healthcare system is a monumental task. There will be major conflicting powers involved in creating this 336, and so far all efforts have stalled out. Taking care of kids is something we must do today. We should work with whatever systems we have to give all children access to healthcare immediately. Then hopefully we can celebrate the transition to universal healthcare for all citizens in the not so distant future.

Keeping our children healthy and protecting them from injury or illness should never be left to chance; healthcare for children should not be a privilege in America but a right. Simply put, the time has come for all children to have access to healthcare.