Federal Government Acts to Deprive Newborns of Health Care

The NYTimes recently highlighted
how the federal government is discouraging immigrants from seeking medical care for their infant children…

"Under a new federal policy, children born in the United States to illegal immigrants with low incomes will no
longer be automatically entitled to health insurance through Medicaid, Bush administration officials said
Thursday.

Doctors and hospitals said the policy change would make it more difficult for such infants, who are United
States citizens, to obtain health care needed in the first year of life.

...In the past, once a woman received emergency care under Medicaid for the birth of a baby, the child was deemed eligible for coverage as well, and states had to cover the children for one year from the date of birth.

Under the new policy, an application must be filed for the child, and the parents must provide documents to prove the child’s citizenship."

As one doctor interviewed in the article explains, the federal government’s interpretation of the law has the impact of intimidating immigrant parents.

This is a cold-hearted ploy to deprive newborns of needed health care. 

Collective Bargaining for Child Care Providers Helps Families and Workers

Promise the Children is proud to endorse and promote the Yes on 3 for Kids campaign in Massachusetts. Question 3 on this November’s state ballot is about the right of child care providers to organize a union and bargain collectively with the state. (A “yes” vote on Question 3 supports the child care workers, and if the initiative passes they will form a union with collective bargaining rights).

What makes this initiative so appealing is its potential to benefit both child care workers and child care clients (parents and children). Currently the state of Massachusetts offers a voucher system that partially subsidies for parents the cost of child care. The Yes on Question 3 campaign emphasizes that child care providers will bargain for greater state subsidies for child care, as well as increased training opportunities. Such measures would improve the quality and availability of child care in Massachusetts. In addition, collective bargaining presents an opportunity to improve the working conditions of child care providers. One of the benefits child care workers will focus on is health care coverage.

The initiative in Massachusetts is similar to child care providers campaigns that have been successful in other states. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is leading this fight in Massachusetts, and has organized child care providers in Illinois and Washington. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has organized child care providers in other states.

Labor Day News: Low Wages Impact Children, Families, and Educators

Friday marked the nine-year anniversary of the stagnant minimum wage.

For shame! This week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities decries the failure of the U.S. Congress to enact a minimum wage raise in the past nine years. (The last hike was on September 1, 1997, when the minimum wage was raised to a paltry $5.15 per hour).

The Center’s full report makes the connection between the inadequate minimum wage and the growing earnings gap in America.

Our country’s educators are among those impacted by the earnings gap. There were two great pieces this week on the financial circumstances of teachers.

Hubert Herring, at the New York Times, gives a short and pithy reflection on the contrast between the pay of CEO’s and that of teachers. Not groundbreaking. But well-stated.

Washington Post reporter Sandhya Somashekhar describes the back-to-school classroom materials that teachers choose to pay for themselves, rather than let their students go without.