Millman’s report found that a family of four will pay $5,114 in premiums for a preferred provider organization plan, a common type of health insurance, along with $3,470 in out-of-pocket costs like co-payments for doctor visits and prescription drugs. The remainder of the expenses will be paid by employers, though money spent on health care and other fringe benefits is money not spent on higher wages.

These findings are troubling for children and their families. It is compounded by the fact that nearly 50 million Americans had no health insurance as of the 2010 census. All this while more families are going without medical care they need for their children because of cost, employees are being asked to pay a greater share of the burden for their family’s health care costs, and more employers are dropping health coverage altogether in light of the increased costs.

In light of these findings, it is even more important for the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the health reform law. Health reform provides families with many cost-limiting provisions that are only beginning to take effect, and the health reform law ensures that nearly every American is enrolled in health coverage later this decade.

“This year, Colorado’s state legislators spent time discussing the role of early childhood learning and education, particularly as it relates to state funding. While no legislation was passed relating directly to funding early learning and development before kindergarten there were ongoing debates around when supports for early learning should begin. Conversations, often facilitated by the Colorado Children’s Campaign, aimed to target supports for Colorado’s youngest and most vulnerable populations.

We were able to pass legislation targeted to strengthening Colorado student’s proficiency in reading at the end of third grade and had champions in both parties repeatedly supporting early learning and education as well as early identification of reading issues. Through this bill, Colorado increased its overall investment in full-day kindergarten. Additionally, the School Finance Partnership — a bipartisan group comprised of education leaders, education reform advocates, elected officials, and business leaders tasked with examining the School Finance Act and considering options and alternatives, and presenting recommendations for an innovative overhaul to the state’s system of funding public schools — gave strong support to investing in half-day preschool for at-risk 3-year-olds, half-day preschool for all 4-year-olds, and full-day preschool for at-risk 4-year-olds.”

Our New Jersey member organization has been hard at work as well:
“Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) is busy working to strengthen our state’s early learning continuum. After briefing Rep. Rush Holt’s staff and Rep. Donald Payne about the importance of a federal investment in preschool expansion, ACNJ’s recent efforts have focused on ensuring adequate state funding to reduce the child care waiting list, which has experienced a 21% reduction in funding since FY 2010 and a 250% increase in the number of children waiting for care; expanding preschool for all low-income 3- and 4- year olds; and restoring $3 million for the school breakfast program.”

We detail the cut and the reasoning behind them in the latest Speaking Out! newsletter:

“We’ve detailed the severe cuts repeatedly in this newsletter, but now that the bill has passed it’s important to really think about what the House has endorsed. It has called for an unprecedented dismantling of the safety net, largely to protect defense spending and tax cuts for millionaires.

The House passed $36 billion in cuts to food stamps, meaning 2 million Americans would lose food assistance. We’re particularly concerned about these cuts because children are half of all food stamp recipients. That means around 22 million children would see reduced or eliminated benefits. And since getting food stamps also enrolls kids in things like free and reduced-price lunch, some 280,000 children stand to lose that, too.”

Sign up to get Speaking Out! in our mailbox here.

We’re very proud of the growth of MomsRising.org, a site that should be a bookmark for any networked, socially conscious mother (or anyone else who cares about health care, kids, the environment, and fair pay). You can learn more about the organization in their recent post, where Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner tracks the rise of the “networked mom”:

One example of these rapidly growing networks is the fast growth of MomsRising due to networked friends telling friends: We started with just a handful of members in 2006, and we’ve grown to over a million members today. MomsRising’s highly trafficked blog and social media networks have also grown at a fast pace. We’re delighted to share that MomsRising now has over 700 bloggers, including Congresspeople, Cabinet Secretaries, moms with amazing personal stories, policy experts, and more. There’s an amazing variety of well-written perspectives, resources, and action links in ONE place: The MomsRising blog.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi cited the opposition of Voices and some of its allies in a speech delivered against the House budget: “Because this legislation will have devastating impact, it’s opposed by numerous organizations: from Easter Seals, the National Women’s Law Center, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Voices for America’s Children.”

We thank Pelosi for the mention, and also for her support of children in federal budget matters. In the same remarks, Pelosi said, “When people ask me what are the three most important issues facing the Congress, I always say the same thing: ‘our children, our children, our children.’ ”

The budget also came under attack from some conservatives, with one Republican calling the legislation “election-year grandstanding.” Knowing that this budget will be spiked by both Obama and the Senate, members of the House seem to want to make a statement instead of serious policy.

The House passed $36 billion in cuts to food stamps, meaning 2 million Americans would lose food assistance. We’re particularly concerned about these cuts because children are half of all food stamp recipients. That means around 22 million children would see reduced or eliminated benefits. And since getting food stamps also enrolls kids in things like free and reduced-price lunch, some 280,000 children stand to lose that, too.

Another $1.7 billion in support for daycare, adoption, protective services and other programs would be eliminated through the repeal of the Social Services Block Grant. It would also effectively exclude immigrants from collecting the Child Tax Credit, which helps working families with the costs of raising children. Subsidies from the health reform law that would help low-income families afford coverage would also lose out.

A lot of the child advocates in the Voices network consider expanding support for early education a top priority. Amanda Ostrander, coordinator of grants & policy for The Children’s Campaign, our member organization in Florida, today reports on how that state is doing with this brief update:

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) in its State of Preschool 2011:  State Preschool Yearbook, Florida ranks first in access, but is last when combining per child spending levels and measures of quality.

The NIEER report gives credit to Florida for comprehensive early learning standards.  Florida fails to provide quality teachers, sufficient in-service education and training, or staff to child ratios oriented around quality.

The state’s Pre-K program was passed over last year for the $500 million Race-to-the-Top. Florida’s new head of the  Office of Early Learning, Mel Jurado, has expressed a commitment to develop a research-based, stakeholder-driven initiative.

The case for early education has been made in South Carolina with some legislative champions established. At the top of the list is the Joint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children.  In their 2012 annual report, the committee calls for greater “prevention and early-intervention services.” For a state not usually on the forefront of preventive measures, this is big news.

The bad news, however, is that not every child — or even those most at risk — has the same opportunity to benefit from high-quality early education. We know that the areas in the state with the most need are receiving limited support. With the Department of Education concentrating services only on K-12, a gap remains in the state for early education leadership.

This is where the Children’s Trust of South Carolina seeks to serve as the state’s partner. Our efforts, as part of the Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting program are creating a fresh opportunity for families and communities across the state. Through this, we are seeing greater collaboration and a renewed focus on our children.

Even through this, much more is called for from individuals, communities and the General Assembly to ensure an equal opportunity for all children. The Children’s Trust is eager to make this happen.

Since its inception, Michigan’s Children has focused on children’s well-being from cradle-to-career, a concept that aligns with Governor Snyder’s P-20 education continuum.  Now Michigan must put its money where its mouth is.  While the state has made efforts to support four-year-old preschool, it has failed to provide consistent support for Michigan’s youngest learners – those three years of age and younger.

Policymakers have gained a better understanding of the critical importance of the first 1000 days of life, as evidenced by a recent meeting with Rep. Tim Walberg, a staunch small government Republican who nonetheless sees value in home visiting programs like Parents as Teachers.  Beyond healthy development, nurturing in the first three years of life are critical to preventing large racial, ethnic, and economic-related disparities that begin to emerge as young as nine months of age and continue to grow throughout life.  Michigan’s Children’s key priorities for the fiscal year 2013 budget are to improve educational outcomes and close equity gaps.  Creating a sustainable funding stream for children from birth through age three would provide the foundation for that improvement.  High quality supports for infants, toddlers and their families can help reduce and prevent equity gaps.

Learn more about Michigan’s Children’s early childhood priorities.

Obviously we want to prevent a spike in the cost of college for students and families, but not at the expense of health services. Both programs help ensure the security of many of the same working-class American families; pitting them against each other is lunacy.

Without congressional action by July 1^st, low-and-moderate income students across the U.S. will be at risk for their loans to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.  If this increase occurs, the average student will see their education costs go up by about  $1,000 per year of school, according to a report released last week by the Young Invincibles, Center for American Progress, Campus Progress, and U.S. PIRG.

The House would raid health reform’s Prevention and Public Health Fund to prevent the student loan increase. According to the latest breakdown on the HHS website, this fund is currently supporting child immunizations, breastfeeding promotion, nutrition and anti-obesity activities, tobacco prevention, racial and ethnic approaches to community health, and programs to help communities fight chronic diseases.

These health programs are essential for those most vulnerable, while providing a cost savings to taxpayers over the long-term.  Voices strongly encourages Congress to pass a student loan bill that doesn’t risk the health of our nation’s children and families.

Now the House Energy and Commerce Committee has voted to yank away the bonuses states are earning for trying to enroll more kids. This is a shame, because these improvements really did help more kids get care. As our friends at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities blogged, “In the first eight months of using this new procedure, known as Express Lane Eligibility, South Carolina eliminated extra paperwork for the families of over 84,000 children. Reforms like these also can lower state administrative costs. South Carolina estimates that Express Lane Eligibility will save about 50,000 hours of worker time and $1 million per year.”

This action is just one of many dangerous cuts being considered as the House attempts to pass a budget. Read more from us on how the House budget would affect kids here.