South Carolina Child Advocacy Lawyer & Attorney : R. Michael Ethridge : Carlock Copeland Semler & Stair : Serving Columbia, Charleston, Greenville

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Kanmani is 10 years old.  She lives in a small village in Tamil Nadiu, India.  From 8:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night she sits on the same concrete floor, making cigarettes.  Her job is to close the ends with a little knife.  She has to complete 2000 cigarettes a day.  If she doesn’t, she’s beaten.  During her 10 hour work day she gets a single break of 30 minutes for lunch.  At the end of her 6 day work week she is paid her weekly wages---75 cents.  And she has done this since she was five years old. 

When her older brother got sick, Kanmani’s family had to borrow fifty dollars to pay the medical bills.  To secure the loan, her parents sent Kanmani to work for the money lender.  The agreement with the money lender requires that the money be repaid in a lump sum.  Kanmani’s family needs the 75 cents she earns every week.  So, after five years, Kanmani’s family is no closer to paying off the debt than when she started.  Kanmani will spend the rest of her childhood on that concrete floor, closing the ends of cigarettes with a pen knife 10 hours a day. 

Hard to believe something like that could happen on this planet in the 21^st century.  Unfortunately, Kanmani’s story is not particularly unique. These stories repeat themselves millions of times over in India, where destitute families are forced to sell their children into indefinite servitude to pay for basic services to keep other members of their family alive. 

Aren’t we glad we live in the United States?  Thank God, nothing like that could ever happen here.  We pride ourselves in taking care of those who cannot care for themselves…protecting the rights of the most vulnerable in our population---our children.

Really?

Today, in this country, there are 9 million children under the age of 19 who have no health insurance.  Every 46 seconds another child is born uninsured in America.  And there are millions of other children who are at risk of losing coverage if their parents change jobs or their employers drop family coverage.  It’s not that these children belong to parents who aren’t trying.  90% of the 9 million children without insurance live in households with working parents.

What happens when these children get sick?  What kind of choices do the parents of these 9 million children have to make when it comes to seeking medical care for their children?

Let’s bring these statistics a little closer to home.  There are roughly 1,000,000 children in South Carolina. 

• A staggering 10% of those children (103,000) have been uninsured throughout 2003-2006. 
• South Carolina's infant mortality rate is higher than some 3rd world countries with roughly 463 babies dying each year in South Carolina before their 1^st birthday. 
• Almost 25% of two year olds in this state are not fully immunized.
•  32% of the babies born in this state are born to mothers who do not receive early and regular prenatal care. 
• Over 10% of the babies born in this state are born with low birth weights. 
• A family of 4 earning $21,000 a year in this state is not eligible for public assistance to help with payment of doctors’ bills.

Now, maybe it’s a little melodramatic to compare failure to provide medical insurance to bonded slavery.  Some suggest that health care is not a right it is a privilege.  Access to a doctor when your child is sick is not a fundamental liberty.  Besides, the United States is not a developing country, and at least we have systems like foster care and bankruptcy so that parents don’t have to sell their children into slavery. 

In the healthcare debate, I think I understand these arguments when they are directed at adults (I don’t agree with them, but I understand them).  When we are talking about a portion of the population totally unable to protect itself, the logic of such an argument evaporates.  Is that the best we can offer to justify the absence of any kind of program to provide universal health coverage for the single most vulnerable segment of our population?

Since the industrial revolution our economy had developed into a financial juggernaut.  We are the architects of the most thriving and robust economy this planet has ever seen.  In the last 100 years our technological advancements have exceeded those of any other culture in history. 

We can build space ships that can take us to Mars.  We can push a button and in an instant be talking to someone on the other side of the world.  We can build computers that run our lives. But we can’t build a health care system that will ensure that every sick child has access to a doctor.  We can’t build a program that guarantees that all children in all 50 states receive the same necessary medical and mental health services.

What is currently in place fails our children miserably.  The size of the problem and the complexity of the issues have resulted in a kind of political paralysis. And year after year political gamesmanship and ideology result in inaction.

Is it an easy problem to solve?  Of course not.  I recognize that such coverage is expensive, and that such costs will impact small businesses and possibly result in higher taxes.  I recognize that Americans feel strongly about wildly divergent methods of addressing this problem.  Some call for a single-payer national health-care plan and others recommend a series of incremental reforms to the existing system.  There is no easy solution.  But there was no easy solution for going to the moon either. 

The good news is that the problem is not without a solution.  The Children’s Defense Fund is working hard this year to advocate for universal health care for all of the children in this country.  Check out their website for more information on their proposed legislation.  Write a letter.  Educate yourselves.  Talk to people. Engage in debate.  Our children deserve it.