Group lobbies for more health care dollars for kids

About one-hundred members of Iowa’s Children’s Policy Coalition are at the Statehouse today, urging legislators to spend more money providing health care to kids. The group got a send-off this morning from Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the national Children’s Defense Fund.Edelman says the U-S lags behind the world in keeping its babies and children healthy.Governor Tom Vilsack designated today “Child Health and Well-being Day.” He says for every child to realize their dream we need to make a true committment to children in education, health care and safety.Dr. David Alexander of Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines is at the capitol to lobby legislators. He says the “Holy Grail” for health care providers is to have the U-S reach the access of care that all the other industrialized nations have.Members of the group pulled legislators aside for one-on-one conversations about their top priority — spending part of the state’s tobacco settlement money to extend health care coverage to un-insured Iowa kids.