To the editor:

As a citizen of one of the wealthiest nations in the world, I am profoundly disturbed that the United States is the only industrialized nation that fails to control health care costs and guarantee coverage via a national health program – and that our legislators are not addressing this issue as the crisis that it is for a rapidly growing number of U.S. families. I remain hopeful that we can change this situation as more people experience the consequences of inadequate access to care.

However, I am discouraged to read in the Journal-World of a Kansas state legislator describing a proposal to provide health care to all Kansas children from birth through 5 years as “warm and fuzzy but not doable.”

Does she truly feel that using our vast wealth to harness the potential of medical and technological advances to give our children the best start we can in life is a “warm and fuzzy” luxury? Have our collective values as a nation been transformed so radically that we are no longer willing to devote significant resources to insuring that all of our children receive comprehensive health care in those critical developmental years?

Part of the mission of the Children’s Defense Fund articulates that “America should be a place where children are born healthy, have preventive care to keep them healthy, and have health care when they get sick.” Isn’t this a fitting goal for the “Land of Opportunity”? Shouldn’t we be electing representatives who will not only support but provide leadership in achieving this goal?

Dot Nary,

Lawrence