An Open Letter from America's Leading Pediatricians
Sunday October 31, 2004
Before heading to the polls, review this press release from some of America's leading pediatricians, which raises concerns about the Bush administration's record on children.
LEADING U.S. PEDIATRICIANS WARN THAT BUSH POLICIES ARE "WRONG PRESCRIPTION" FOR AMERICA'S CHILDREN
Top Child Health Author, Six Past American Academy of Pediatrics Heads Speak Out; Bush White House Is "Eroding Decades of Hard-Won Health Gains For Children"
WASHINGTON, D.C.
September 29, 2004
America's most prominent pediatricians – including bestselling author Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and six past presidents of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – issued a joint statement today condemning President George W. Bush's neglect of child health concerns, as well as objecting to other administration policies that are harmful to the well-being of children.
The statement was signed by a total of 36 leading U.S. pediatricians. Dr. Brazelton and the past presidents of the AAP were joined by more than two dozen other top U.S. pediatricians, including chairs and professors of pediatric medicine, and past presidents of other medical prominent associations. The joint statement criticizes Bush on such topics as the eight million U.S. children without health insurance, and the lack of a Bush Administration commitment to pre-natal care, basic maternal and child health services, preventive child health services including immunizations, medical treatment of acute and chronic illness (such as childhood asthma), pediatric health professionals training and pediatric medical research.
The joint statement entitled "Our Children Deserve Better" reads, in part, as follows: "The Bush Administration's policies are moving us away from effective and longstanding federal commitments that improved the health of children, commitments proudly initiated and supported by previous Republican and Democratic presidents. If not reversed, these ill-advised tax and budget policies will erode decades of hard-won health gains for children, while still leaving unaddressed such critical problems as child abuse, mental health, and alcohol and other drug abuse … We embrace Senator Kerry's straightforward goal: every child, indeed every American, should have the same affordable health care that is available to every member of Congress and senior government official. Our children and our families deserve no less a commitment from their next President."
Commenting on the statement, leading U.S. child health author Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, professor emeritus, Harvard University School of Medicine, Brazelton Institute, said: "We know that SCHIP, AFDC for underprivileged families, child care, Early Head Start and Head Start work for children, but these programs aren't being adequately funded. We need to ask ourselves: What are we doing to the next generation if we don't back them up now? A recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showed that children in the middle don't get preventative health – and one out of seven of them has a preventable disease. We can't afford that economically as a nation and the families certainly can't afford it. We've got to think about children and families in this country first."
Dr. Steven Berman, a Denver, CO pediatrician and past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said: "The Bush administration's tax and budget policies contributed to the fiscal crisis many states have experienced, which in turn resulted in deep cuts to successful programs serving millions of children. In the President's home state of Texas alone, more than 150,000 children of working class families have been dropped from the State Child Health Insurance Program leaving them without any insurance. A number of states have adopted policies that will reduce children's enrollment in Medicaid or SCHIP because of state budget pressures. A recent report found that states have adopted policies that are cutting about 1.2 to 1.6 million people off Medicaid, SCHIP or similar state-funded health insurance programs, of whom almost half – 490,000 to 650,000 – are low-income children."
Michael R. Petit, president and founder of Vote Kids, said: "We worked with America's top pediatricians to get out this joint statement for two reasons. First, pediatricians are the front-line troops who know best the real and tragic costs of the Bush Administration's neglect of child issues. They know better than anyone else that what President Bush is doing on children's issues is the wrong prescription for our children. Our second motive comes from a deep sense of concern that issues that will determine in large part the future health and prospects for tens of millions of children are being ignored in the 2004 election. These children and their needs deserve to be front-burner issues and we are do will do everything we can to make sure they get the focus they need and deserve."
Petit said that the joint statement facilitated by the nonprofit Vote Kids was not coordinated in any way with any political candidate or party.
HIGHLIGHTS OF JOINT STATEMENT
Key sections of the joint statement from the 36 leading U.S. pediatricians include the following:
"We are pediatricians who, while caring for individual children, have had a professional goal of making quality health care available to all children. That goal remains in jeopardy:
Dr. Joel Alpert, a Boston, MA pediatrician and past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics: "The Bush Administration would cut funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program beginning in 2006. By 2009, the proposed funding level for the WIC program would fall $310 million below the OMB baseline, which would mean that approximately 450,000 fewer low-income and pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants, and young children could participate in the program. A recent report from the Children's Sentinel Nutritional Assessment Program (C-SNAP) indicates that WIC and other programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and public housing subsidies benefit children's health and growth. By supplementing low-income families' limited budgets, these safety net programs improve families' ability to purchase enough nutritious food for their children's developing bodies. C-SNAP data also shows young children receiving these benefits are less likely to be seriously underweight. These programs need to be supplemented and expanded, not cut back or eliminated."
By contrast, a "backgrounder" document issued with the statement from the pediatrician notes that Senator John Kerry has outlined proposals that would bring millions of currently uncovered children into the Medicaid health care systems. The "backgrounder" also details additional concerns about proposed Bush cuts to Head Start (including 62,000 fewer poor children benefiting from Head Start nutrition programs by 2009) and inadequate attention to child abuse (three million complaints filed in the most recent year).
The full text of the statement is available online at http://www.votekids.org. A related "backgrounder" providing full details about the points raised in the joint statement may be found online at the same location.
ABOUT VOTE KIDS
Vote Kids (http://www.votekids.org) is focused on making children a priority in American politics – instead of a political afterthought – by promoting accountability, and bringing children and family issues to the voting public's attention. Vote Kids is: mobilizing voters on children's issues; mounting education efforts that highlight selected politicians' records on children's issues; promoting children and family issues in selected states; and creating a database of voters with a strong interest in voting for children.
CONTACT: Stephanie Kendall, (703) 276-3254 or skendall@hastingsgroup.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 4 p.m. EDT on September 29, 2004 at http://www.votekids.org. A news release, the joint statement from pediatricians, and related documentation also will be available at the same Web page.
LEADING U.S. PEDIATRICIANS WARN THAT BUSH POLICIES ARE "WRONG PRESCRIPTION" FOR AMERICA'S CHILDREN
Top Child Health Author, Six Past American Academy of Pediatrics Heads Speak Out; Bush White House Is "Eroding Decades of Hard-Won Health Gains For Children"
WASHINGTON, D.C.
September 29, 2004
America's most prominent pediatricians – including bestselling author Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and six past presidents of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – issued a joint statement today condemning President George W. Bush's neglect of child health concerns, as well as objecting to other administration policies that are harmful to the well-being of children.
The statement was signed by a total of 36 leading U.S. pediatricians. Dr. Brazelton and the past presidents of the AAP were joined by more than two dozen other top U.S. pediatricians, including chairs and professors of pediatric medicine, and past presidents of other medical prominent associations. The joint statement criticizes Bush on such topics as the eight million U.S. children without health insurance, and the lack of a Bush Administration commitment to pre-natal care, basic maternal and child health services, preventive child health services including immunizations, medical treatment of acute and chronic illness (such as childhood asthma), pediatric health professionals training and pediatric medical research.
The joint statement entitled "Our Children Deserve Better" reads, in part, as follows: "The Bush Administration's policies are moving us away from effective and longstanding federal commitments that improved the health of children, commitments proudly initiated and supported by previous Republican and Democratic presidents. If not reversed, these ill-advised tax and budget policies will erode decades of hard-won health gains for children, while still leaving unaddressed such critical problems as child abuse, mental health, and alcohol and other drug abuse … We embrace Senator Kerry's straightforward goal: every child, indeed every American, should have the same affordable health care that is available to every member of Congress and senior government official. Our children and our families deserve no less a commitment from their next President."
Commenting on the statement, leading U.S. child health author Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, professor emeritus, Harvard University School of Medicine, Brazelton Institute, said: "We know that SCHIP, AFDC for underprivileged families, child care, Early Head Start and Head Start work for children, but these programs aren't being adequately funded. We need to ask ourselves: What are we doing to the next generation if we don't back them up now? A recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showed that children in the middle don't get preventative health – and one out of seven of them has a preventable disease. We can't afford that economically as a nation and the families certainly can't afford it. We've got to think about children and families in this country first."
Dr. Steven Berman, a Denver, CO pediatrician and past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said: "The Bush administration's tax and budget policies contributed to the fiscal crisis many states have experienced, which in turn resulted in deep cuts to successful programs serving millions of children. In the President's home state of Texas alone, more than 150,000 children of working class families have been dropped from the State Child Health Insurance Program leaving them without any insurance. A number of states have adopted policies that will reduce children's enrollment in Medicaid or SCHIP because of state budget pressures. A recent report found that states have adopted policies that are cutting about 1.2 to 1.6 million people off Medicaid, SCHIP or similar state-funded health insurance programs, of whom almost half – 490,000 to 650,000 – are low-income children."
Michael R. Petit, president and founder of Vote Kids, said: "We worked with America's top pediatricians to get out this joint statement for two reasons. First, pediatricians are the front-line troops who know best the real and tragic costs of the Bush Administration's neglect of child issues. They know better than anyone else that what President Bush is doing on children's issues is the wrong prescription for our children. Our second motive comes from a deep sense of concern that issues that will determine in large part the future health and prospects for tens of millions of children are being ignored in the 2004 election. These children and their needs deserve to be front-burner issues and we are do will do everything we can to make sure they get the focus they need and deserve."
Petit said that the joint statement facilitated by the nonprofit Vote Kids was not coordinated in any way with any political candidate or party.
HIGHLIGHTS OF JOINT STATEMENT
Key sections of the joint statement from the 36 leading U.S. pediatricians include the following:
"We are pediatricians who, while caring for individual children, have had a professional goal of making quality health care available to all children. That goal remains in jeopardy:
- 27 million children were without health insurance at some point in 2002-2003.
- President Bush's latest budget shows little commitment to pre-natal care, basic maternal and child health services, preventive child health services including immunizations, medical treatment of acute and chronic illness such as asthma, the training of needed pediatric health professionals, and pediatric medical research.
- The Bush Administration's tax and budget policies contributed to the fiscal crisis many states have experienced, which in turn resulted in deep cuts to successful programs serving millions of children. In the President's home state of Texas alone, nearly 150,000 children of working class families have been dropped from the State Child Health Insurance Program leaving them without any insurance …
- The policy choices now being debated are clear for those who care about the health of children. President Bush's main health care proposal of tax credits and deductions would decrease the number of uninsured by as little as 5 percent while still relying on market forces proven to be ineffective for dealing with the millions who will remain uninsured. Senator Kerry's proposal, building on his belief that health care is a right not a privilege, extends coverage to virtually all children, and ultimately to all Americans."
Dr. Joel Alpert, a Boston, MA pediatrician and past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics: "The Bush Administration would cut funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program beginning in 2006. By 2009, the proposed funding level for the WIC program would fall $310 million below the OMB baseline, which would mean that approximately 450,000 fewer low-income and pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants, and young children could participate in the program. A recent report from the Children's Sentinel Nutritional Assessment Program (C-SNAP) indicates that WIC and other programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and public housing subsidies benefit children's health and growth. By supplementing low-income families' limited budgets, these safety net programs improve families' ability to purchase enough nutritious food for their children's developing bodies. C-SNAP data also shows young children receiving these benefits are less likely to be seriously underweight. These programs need to be supplemented and expanded, not cut back or eliminated."
By contrast, a "backgrounder" document issued with the statement from the pediatrician notes that Senator John Kerry has outlined proposals that would bring millions of currently uncovered children into the Medicaid health care systems. The "backgrounder" also details additional concerns about proposed Bush cuts to Head Start (including 62,000 fewer poor children benefiting from Head Start nutrition programs by 2009) and inadequate attention to child abuse (three million complaints filed in the most recent year).
The full text of the statement is available online at http://www.votekids.org. A related "backgrounder" providing full details about the points raised in the joint statement may be found online at the same location.
ABOUT VOTE KIDS
Vote Kids (http://www.votekids.org) is focused on making children a priority in American politics – instead of a political afterthought – by promoting accountability, and bringing children and family issues to the voting public's attention. Vote Kids is: mobilizing voters on children's issues; mounting education efforts that highlight selected politicians' records on children's issues; promoting children and family issues in selected states; and creating a database of voters with a strong interest in voting for children.
CONTACT: Stephanie Kendall, (703) 276-3254 or skendall@hastingsgroup.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 4 p.m. EDT on September 29, 2004 at http://www.votekids.org. A news release, the joint statement from pediatricians, and related documentation also will be available at the same Web page.
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