It’s a disgrace that 46 million people in America do not have health insurance. We, as a country, are better than that. Access to quality health care is a right and not a privilege. Everyone should have access to prenatal care, pediatric care and basic preventive medicine. We need to provide cradle to grave health care coverage. This does not mean that everyone should be covered under a single-payer, government-controlled health plan. Rather, it means private health care working in conjunction with government health care to provide full coverage to all. Those who have private insurance and like their plan and like their doctor should be able to continue with that coverage. But, there are too many who cannot get private insurance, because they cannot afford it or because they have a pre-existing condition. It is these Americans that would benefit from a government plan. A government-run plan, however, does not mean a free plan. Those under the government-run plan would still need to contribute toward their coverage.

It might seem unusual to say that education starts with prenatal care, but studies have shown that being born with a low birth weight puts one at a great disadvantage. A recent study at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley showed that having a low birth weight decreases one's achievement scores while increasing the odds that one will drop out of high school. This disadvantage carries on beyond school, as low birth weight lowers labor force participation rates by 5 percentage points and reduces labor market earnings by 14%. To help all children begin their education on a level footing, we need to provide prenatal care to all mothers.