A bipartisan commission on healthcare is asking state lawmakers to take action this session to provide insurance for every child. The 25-member commission convened by the legislature last spring recommends the state start by working to insure children from low-income families.

Commission member David Carlyle is a family doctor at the McFarland Clinic in Ames and believes the legislature should take strong action to get kids ensured. Carlyle says he believes all children should have health insurance. Personally, Carlyle says he believes parents should be forced to get health insurance for their kids. Carlyle says the lack of insurance leads to more health problems down the road.

He says for physicians like himself who see the problem daily, the lack of insurance is like a cancer spreading throughout our society. Carlyle says providing coverage for those who cannot afford it is a good first step.

Senator and commission member Jack Hatch, a Democrat from Des Moines, says he’s drawing up legislation to cover an additional 25,000 to 30,000 kids.  Hatch says it is estimated it take 15 to 20 million dollars in state funds that would pull down an additional 30-million dollars in federal funds to make it happen.

Hatch says the next step is to figure out how to cover children when their parents can afford health insurance, but don’t buy it.