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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

"Cover the Uninsured Week" Spurs Hope for Nevada Kids' Health Coverage

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Friday, May 2, 2008   

Carson City, NV - Nevadans and families nationwide are celebrating "Cover the Uninsured Week" with a new initiative to provide health insurance for 9 million kids who now don't have it, including more than 100,000 in the Silver State.

One in every eight Nevada kids lacks health insurance, but activists hope new legislation being promoted as part of the Week will be able to change that, according to Ashley White, deputy press secretary with the Children's Defense Fund.

"In Nevada, there are 112,000 uninsured children. That's 16.8 percent of the state's children. This is affecting so many families in every community, and it's affecting the state overall as well."

The federal All Healthy Children Act would supplement the Nevada Check Up plan. It also would convert coverage for children and pregnant women from Medicaid and S-CHIP into a new program available to families with incomes up to three times the federal poverty level.

Nationwide, 47 million Americans, including 9.4 million children, lack health coverage.

White says that, regardless of income, American families without health coverage have hard choices to make.

"Every 41 seconds another child is born uninsured. This is affecting not just the poorest communities. This is affecting everybody. A lot of people just can't afford health insurance, so they're having to choose between providing health insurance for their children or putting food on the table."

Despite federal restrictions on Medicaid and delays in expanding the S-CHIP health insurance program, White sees hope in the All Healthy Children Act.

"The Children's Defense Fund is supporting the All Healthy Children Act, which has sponsors both in the House and the Senate. This act is giving health coverage to every single child. There are 9.4 million children in America who do not have health coverage, and the All Healthy Children's Act would provide coverage for every single one of them."

Information about the Children's Defense Fund is available at www.childrensdefense.org. Cover the Uninsured Week is explained at www.covertheuninsured.org.



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