Call Your Senator: Sen. Andy Kim

**Brian Lehrer** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. We begin today with our monthly call your senator segment, My Questions and Yours for New Jersey Senator Andy Kim. New Jerseyans, call your senator with any question you have. Others are invited too at 212-433-WNYC.
212-433-9692. You can call or text your senator actually at 212-433-9692.
As a former Pentagon and State Department official, we'll definitely get his take on the escalating US death and injury toll in the war with Iran and what to do about it. But we also have breaking affordability news from Andy Kim this morning. You know, Medicare, universal health insurance for seniors in this country, right? Well, I see that the senator is introducing a bill to create a federal program called MediKids. Senator Kim, we always appreciate that you do this for our listening public in and out of New Jersey. Welcome back to WNYC.

**Andy Kim** (1:10)
Yeah. Good morning, Brian. Thanks for having me.

**Brian Lehrer** (1:12)
All right. It's a new vocabulary word for our listeners today. MediKids. What is it?

**Andy Kim** (1:18)
I think it rolls off the tongue, right? I mean, I think it's very clear that we should be making sure that we are guaranteeing health care for every child in this country. One thing that maybe the listeners don't know is that right now, 4.4 million American kids don't have health care.
And about 23 million, about one out of every three kids is underinsured, which means that their insurance doesn't cover their needs. I mean, that is outrageous, you know, and just something that I just can't see how we can continue on as a country. You know, I'm hearing from these parents telling me that they're worried about losing their job or changing a job because of how it affects health insurance for their kids or just, you know, kids that are born and parents are worried about their health care. Like, we're the richest, most powerful country in the world. How could we be letting that happen? So I'm introducing today legislation called MediKids, which would be that guarantee. The same way that we have that guarantee for Medicare. I think the bookends of our lives in that way is a really important part of it.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:25)
Well, we already have Medicaid and CHIP, which stands for the Children's Health Insurance Program, which are supposed to cover kids whose parents aren't covered at work or can't afford health insurance in the marketplace otherwise. So why make this a universal program? You know, some people will say, why am I supporting government health insurance for Jeff Bezos' and Elon Musk's kids with my tax dollars? That kind of thing.

**Andy Kim** (2:52)
Well, look, what I'll say is right now, what we have isn't working in the full way that we need to.
And that's clear by, again, the fact that we have 4.4 million kids without insurance. In fact, that number is growing.
Over just the last year and a half, because of the cuts to Medicaid and to the ACA, we see now over 2 million more kids losing their health insurance through Medicaid and CHIP. So again, it's moving in the wrong direction, which is why we need to take a different approach. The approach I'm laying out would automatically enroll every single child born in this country into Medicaid. A parent could opt out if they want, if they choose to go with their family plan. Okay, that's their decision. But it's always there for it. It's automatic enrollment which would immediately drop the number of uninsured kids in this country overnight to zero. So that's the approach. And look, this is something, if ever there is an element of collective agreement and collective action, I hope it's around our kids. This recognition that we're all looking out for our own kids, but also healthier kids means healthier adults, means a healthier society, which means lower health care costs for our entire country. And it's no fault of these kids for the circumstances in which they're living, and they're kids. You know, so like, I get it. Look, you know, I think this is good for all of us. This is good for our society, and we've seen that bear out in the data.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:23)
Will there be premiums and co-pays? Medicare covers 80%, not 100%, and there are premiums for Part B, depending on, you know, people's particular situations?

**Andy Kim** (4:35)
Now, this one is going to be allowed to cover, you know, any of the needs for our kids. And again, when it comes to, you know, their needs to grow, I mean, we have a tremendous number of kids in this country that have chronic illnesses, asthma, other problems that are out there, and it's continuing to grow.