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working families in this country are not able to find the childcare they need at a cost they can afford In most states, in fact, childcare is more expensive than a four-year public university.
"Meanwhile, while we neglect our children, we seem to have hundreds of billions available for tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires; we spend tens of billions on weapons systems that were designed to fight the Cold War and not terrorism, and we are spending $8 billion a month for Iraq.
"Today, along with Marion Wright Edelman, I want to focus on one area of childhood neglect which must be addressed immediately, and that is the national disgrace of some 9 million children in our country lacking health insurance. To my mind, as most Vermonters know, I believe that our country must move to a national health care system guaranteeing health care for all, but the least that we can do now is to make sure that all of our kids are covered so that no mother, no father, hesitates for one second to take their kids to the doctor or hospital when that necessity arises.
"Next week, when the Senate reconvenes, I will be introducing the All Healthy Children Act. This legislation will insure comprehensive health care insurance for every boy and girl under 18 in America.
"The good news is that we in Vermont should be very proud of what we have accomplished in terms of providing health care access to our kids through the Dr. Dinosaur program. Dr. Dinosaur is far from perfect, but it has gone a long way in providing quality care to the children of our state, and makes us one for the leaders in the country in this area.
"Unfortunately, the situation throughout the rest of the country is very different. Today, there are 9 million uninsured children in America. Ninety percent live in a household in which an adult is working but still lacks health insurance for his or her child, and, believe it or not, over half of these uninsured children live in a household in which both parents are working.
"At a time when many children in this country are in need of mental health services or counseling, this legislation covers mental health costs, as well as full medical coverage for all pregnant women.
"This legislation will go a long way in picking up problems that young children have, problems which today are not being diagnosed or addressed, and will end up costing us a lot more in terms of dollars and suffering because we lack this early detection and intervention."
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