They are not entitled to go to a doctor if they don't have enough money to pay exorbitant doctor and hospital bills. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In the modern economy, as corporate CEO's downsize the work force and cut health-care benefits, this law of capitalism has a specially venomous twist for children. Since 1969, the childhood poverty rate has risen from 14 percent to 21 percent, even though the gross domestic output doubled in these 18 years. Although the growing impoverishment of children means that at least 10 million are without health coverage, it is precisely these children who are most in need of medical care.
Poor children are twice as likely to have stunted growth, iron deficiency and severe asthma.
Health officials in Maine and Kansas report that low-income children are three times more likely to die in childhood. One obvious reason is government policy. Under both the Democrats and Republicans, the government policy has been to slash and destroy what has been labeled the welfare state by right-wing propagandists. Since the costs for welfare, AFDC and food stamps account for less than 2 cents of every tax dollar spent, the notion that a huge welfare state exists is a conservative fantasy. This warfare state exists in peace time as well as wartime.