A grandmother tells it like it is about healthcare for children!
Health Coverage for Children
Published Friday, August 17, 2007 in the Lakeland Ledger
Congress recently passed a bill that would strengthen and improve health coverage for uninsured children. It includes $47 billion in new funding over the next five years. This will help 4.1 million of the 9 million uninsured children in this country. The Senate voted on 35 billion and that would serve 3.1 million of the 9 million children that need medical care.
Here is the part of this that makes me mad. Our own Adam Putnam and Mel Martinez voted against it. How dare them? It’s not like everyone has a $144,000 job with great insurance that covers them. There are a lot of us that are the called the working poor. We work but still can’t afford medical insurance for our kids. So they go without and we pray that they don’t get sick. Even the President has said he is going to veto it. These children are our future.
They keep cutting the mental health budget. One out of every 10 children in this state lives with a grandparent or other relative. These children need mental health treatment. They are hurting, and angry children going to grow up to be hurting angry adults. If you think we have problems now, wait 10 years. We won’t have enough jails for them all.
I am a grandmother raising her grandchildren.
CAROLYN PALMER
Lakeland