To Their Good Health

A major new congressional report says that money spent on key children’s programs saves lives, helps youngsters do better in school and saves money in the long run.

Head Start, for example, helps students get better grades, stay in school and find jobs more easily when they graduate. A $1 investment in Head Start returns $6 in savings on special education and welfare programs that Head Start youngsters are far less likely to need.

Estimates of the number of children eligible for Head Start who actually participate vary. The newest report, from the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, says that fewer than one eligible child in five is enrolled. The report is powerful testimony on behalf of efforts in the House to add $77 million to the Head Start budget for the next fiscal year.

The report notes that Medicaid, known in California as Medi-Cal, pays for routine deliveries of babies as well as early screening and treatment for health problems. Medicaid coverage has helped women who might not otherwise have received medical care while they were pregnant. The program reduces death rates among newborns and infants, and prevents crippling ailments that can affect children whose mothers don’t get good prenatal care. The report said that comprehensive prenatal care supported by Medicaid saved $2 in the first year of an infant’s life for every $1 spent.

Good nutrition pays, too. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of the committee, pointed out that spending $360 million more to provide nutritional assistance to 730,000 more pregnant women would save $1 billion in costs of caring for babies too weak to thrive.

Congress is at work on proposals to increase the funds for Head Start, compensatory education and the nutrition program, among others. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) has also proposed legislation that would require states to provide Medicaid coverage for treatment of pregnant women and infants whose families are at the poverty level. Currently, states aren’t required to do so. They have the option to cover pregnant women who are at the poverty level or whose families make slightly more money but not enough to afford the care themselves.

California covers pregnant women at the poverty level but hasn’t yet taken the option to provide coverage for the working poor who earn a bit more. Next week the state Senate Health Committee considers SB 2579, sponsored by state Sens. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) and David Roberti (D-Los Angeles), to ensure that the working poor get prenatal care. The measure deserves support.

The committee report offers a clear road map for Congress and the next Administration to follow in working to reduce health problems among children and helping them do better in school. There’s never been any doubt about the need to take better care of the nation’s children. Now there should be less doubt about spending the money to do the job because it’s good economics as well as good sense.