One of our daughters used to be really sick when she was an infant up until when she was nearly 4 years old with asthma.  I would take her for regular well child visits with her pediatrician as well as when she was really ill.  Her asthma was such that I took her to see a pulmonologist on a regular basis and she was on up to 6 different medications, especially when she was sick.

At the end of July, the first ever study of the cost of preventable environmental disease for children in Michigan was released by the Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health which showed that Michigan could save billions per year by protecting children.

I will always remember the night in March of this year when the Senate voted and passed the Federal Healthcare Reform Bill.  I had followed the development of this bill very closely, read the proposed law, discussed it with the two ECIC Health Advisory Committees, sent out several notices to GSCs, had debates with many of my friends and even held a number of meetings in my home about the proposed legislation.  That night though in March, when the votes were counted and we all knew Federal Healthcare Reform had finally passed… I shouted so loudly in celebration that I

The state of Michigan used to be number 1 at health insurance coverage for children but we have slipped to number 6 and are continuing to fall behind other states.  Today, it was reported by the Gongwer in Michigan that nearly 3,000 less children received health coverage through MI-Child (also known as Children’s Health Insurance Program or CHIP) during the month of June compared to April of 2010.  This amounts to around a 4% drop in MI-Child numbers and a corresponding 8.7% increase in the numbers of children in Medicaid for the same period.

After the birth of our second daughter here in Michigan, I received a letter from our health insurance company and I was curious about charges and co-payments we as parents had to pay especially because I grew up in a country where everyone has universal healthcare coverage and for children (0-6 years of age), there are no co-payments for seeing a primary care physician nor do parents have to pay for kids medications.  Luckily, I was sitting down when I opened this letter because it stated that I owed more than $250,000.

As a mother of two young girls, ages 4 and 6, I have been very concerned with the kinds of food I feed them. They were both breast-fed as babies and they eat fresh fruits and vegetables daily. We usually purchase whole wheat and whole grain foods and they are only allowed to drink milk and water. On special occasions – birthdays and parties – they have juice.

Historic Legislation