TV Reviews : PBS Show Puts Child Care in Historical Perspective

Seventeen industrialized nations have a lower infant mortality rate than the United States. If pregnant women and infants were receiving quality health care, many of those deaths could be prevented, according to tonight’s academic PBS documentary, “Caring for Tomorrow’s Children,” at 10 p.m. on Channel 28.

Judy Woodruff of “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” hosts an hour of film clips and discussion that illustrates the growing political and social interest in the issue of child care.

We’re given a historical overview, from the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt--who oversaw the creation of the protective Children’s Bureau--to Ronald Reagan, whose zeal to limit federal responsibility resulted in more than 500,000 children being cut from Medicaid in 1982 alone.

Excerpts from a recent conference with eight former U.S. secretaries of health, moderated by Woodruff, proves that the political path to finding answers is still a bumpy one.

The Reagan Administration’s Margaret Heckler, despite the statistics, says “we’ve come a long way in infant mortality” and wants a stronger community response. “Infant mortality is localized,” she says. Joseph A. Califano Jr., secretary under Jimmy Carter, agrees that community involvement is vital, but says the federal government must do its part.

Robert Finch, a Richard Nixon appointee, says it’s “an oversimplification to think we can fix it with a law.” Elliot Richardson, who also served under Nixon, wants employers to provide the needed health care, with a federally administrated program for those not employed.

David Mathews, a Gerald Ford appointee, says that the federal government is too “untidy” to bring the issue into sharp focus.

The hour culminates in an interview with President Bush’s new secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Louis W. Sullivan. He mentions Bush’s proposed expansion of Medicaid eligibility--an expansion that Democrats say doesn’t go far enough.

“In tomorrow’s children lies our future,” Woodruff says. We’re shown a few community pilot programs that seem to be making a difference with “concern and sensitivity,” because various local health care agencies have elected to forget self-interest and work together. The lesson is obvious.