Two years ago, during the presidential campaign of 2004, I had the privilege of crisscrossing this nation and meeting great families every day. Their stories of struggle and sacrifice so inspired me that on the first day of Congressional session in January 2005, I introduced my Kids First plan to provide health insurance for ever child in America.

Since that time, more than 800,000 people have signed up to be citizen co-sponsors and nearly twenty-five national health care, children’s and labor organizations – representing more than twenty million Americans – have joined as endorsers and promoters of Kids First. In one week alone, more than twenty thousand people picked up the phone and called my offices to share their personal plea on why we desperately need this plan.

It’s no wonder people are so upset about Washington’s indifference. One-third of kids with asthma nationwide suffer without the medication they need. In the wealthiest nation on the face of the Earth, that is nothing short of a disgrace.

Insuring every child won’t require big tax hikes or new bureaucracy. We can provide health insurance coverage for every kid in America if we simply roll back the president’s tax cut for individuals making over $300,000 a year.

Another way to look at it is that we could insure every child in America for the next ten years for half of what it has cost us to occupy Iraq over the last three years.

The benefits of providing health care for our children would be numerous. We could reduce avoidable hospitalizations by 22 percent. Children enrolled in public insurance programs rate 68 percent better in measures of school performance than those without coverage. And the long-term cost savings in health care, education, job training and reduced stress on our families are incalculable.

While Washington dithers, states are starting to tackle this issue on their own. Thankfully, we have a good start on solving this crisis in my home state of Massachusetts where Democrats and Republicans have worked together to provide comprehensive health reform. Many states, however, simply don’t have the money to help their citizens.

The government can’t raise people’s kids; nor should it. But we must share a collective national responsibility for children’s health care by building a strong partnership with the states, which run the state health care systems, and with parents, who are responsible for raising healthy kids.

Instead of dumping the problem on cash-strapped states, my proposal offers states a new bargain: the national government will give states immediate financial relief in exchange for a commitment not only to cover all kids, but make sure they get the coverage for which they're eligible. This will cut the red tape that results in the huge gap between the kids who are eligible and those who actually get covered. Under my plan, states will save over $6 billion per year.

Parents deserve a new bargain, too. We should help them buy employer-sponsored coverage where available. And we will allow parents who don't normally qualify for public programs to buy coverage for their children at cost. Parents’ side of the bargain is to take advantage of these opportunities to get their kids covered or forfeit the child tax credit on their federal tax returns.

We spent much of 2005 building our coalition of support. Now is the time to put our citizen soldiers into action. We will push for accountability on Kids First in this election year – a vote on the Senate floor that will separate those who talk about family values and those who really value families.

When it comes to getting kids health care coverage, it's a promise we can afford to keep – and one we cannot afford to break. Every child deserves a healthy start in life.

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