Uninsured Children

The failure of our current system to provide basic health care for all our children (“Uninsured Children Pay Price,” June 23) truly is a “gaping wound in our health care system.” It is also a complicated problem and no single reform will meet the challenge alone.

One part of an overall solution, however, is already in place, yet it was ignored in the article. The Supplemental Health Insurance Credit provides cash from the IRS for low-income families who buy health insurance covering at least one dependent child. When combined with the basic Earned Income Credit a family can receive over $1,600 . . . even if the family owes no federal income tax. These credits are available to all families earning less than $21,000 annually.

Working families can have their credits advanced to them throughout the year by filing a W-5 form with their employer. Since the majority of uninsured children have parents in the work force, this feature could provide hundreds of thousands of children with coverage. And not bare-bones coverage either. HMO policies, which include immunizations and other preventive benefits that would eliminate a great deal of the misery described in your article, are available in Los Angeles for less than $900 per year.

These credits are not the ultimate solution. But they provide substantial assistance and, most important, they are available now.

ALAN KATZ, President, California Assn. of Health Underwriters, Calabasas