It seems like every time you turn around someone else is announcing a run for the presidency in 2008. But this announcement caught my attention because Susie Flynn is only ten years old and she is running for president. She is running on only one issue, health care for all children. One in nine children in the United States has no health insurance. The Children’s Defense Fund said that some of our elected officials are not doing enough to solve the problem. To draw attention to the issue they have begun the “Elect Susie” campaign.

According to the Children’s Defense Fund, health insurance can be provided to all children in the United States for the same cost as three and a half months of the War in Iraq or five and a half months of tax cuts for the richest one percent of all Americans. The majority of uninsured children live in two-parent households, and ninety percent of them live in homes where at least one working parent. Wages have not kept pace with the price of private healthcare insurance.

The current healthcare system is not working for children. The United States spends twice the average on healthcare per person of other industrialized nations and yet we have a higher infant mortality rate. We have patchwork system of child healthcare programs in the United States. There are a variety of standards for eligibility, cost sharing, and benefits. Finding a national solution is essential to solving the problem. The Children’s Defense Fund said, “Children cannot take care of themselves, and they have no power to influence change…You should use your vote to get children the health insurance they need.” Susie’s campaign is about getting candidates to take action on this issue.

In the mean time, Congress has been trying to tackle the issue despite opposition from the Bush administration. Enacted in 1997 with strong bipartisan support, S-CHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program), a federal-state program designed to extend health coverage to kids whose families do not qualify for the older Medicaid safety net system. It has reduced the number of uninsured children, but due to varying state policies, limited federal funding, and complexities in the enrollment process, S-CHIP has left an estimated 9 million kids still uninsured. The Bush administration has ignored bipartisan gubernatorial requests for emergency funding, and the president's latest budget would impose new limitations on S-CHIP eligibility. Rep. Rahm Emanuel announced last week bipartisan plan, The Healthy Kids Act. This act would expand federal support for S-CHIP in states that agree to simplify enrollment for the program, it would also create a new tax credit that families could use to cover kids through employer-based insurance, or through state insurance pools.

Between Congress’s actions and Susie’s presidential campaign, Americans may finally take responsibility for providing healthcare for its most vulnerable citizens.

Susie’s Message: