John Kerry Fights for “KidsFirst” Health Care Plan

John Kerry addresses the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners today in Washington, DC. The focus of his speech was his "KidsFirst" Health Care Plan. The following is the text of his speech as prepared for delivery and received by The Democratic Daily:

I am deeply humbled by the work you do. Nurses are among America’s greatest heroes -- too often unsung heroes.

We might not always say it when we are rushing through the emergency room with a child that has a broken arm; or dashing from the school physical to make it to soccer practice; or when a parent leaves your offices upset with a confirmation that a child has a developmental disability – but we appreciate you. We value you. We are comforted by your expertise and the caring, professional manner that you wrap around us and our families when we seek your services. Give yourselves a round of applause.

The question is whether Washington is going to change the way business is done and give you more than words of thanks – more than applause – and give you the kind of change that helps you do your job.

And if the current leadership in Washington won’t stand with you, the good news is – this is an election year. Let’s make use of it. We need to make your issues the voting issues in our country – and to do that we have to make the every day injustices of our health care system as real for people as the horrific images Katrina left in its wake. Because the truth about health care is more than the faceless, soulless numbers. Any politician can effortlessly recite every statistic about 48 million uninsured Americans, the healthcare premiums increasing at three times the rate of inflation, and the cost of prescription drugs going up over 10% every year. But that doesn’t mean they understand the real human consequences of those numbers like you do.

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