Dear Supporter,

This is personal. As I traveled across the country last year, I learned a lot about the dreams, hopes, fears and frustrations of the American people. Nothing touched me more than the parents I met who feared that illness would strike a child who is uninsured.

A sick child is always a worry. A sick child that you can't get help for is a parent's worst nightmare. Helping the 11 million children who have no health coverage isn't even on the radar screen of the Bush administration and the Republican leaders in Congress. But, we're going to put it there.

It is totally unacceptable that, in the greatest country in the world, millions of children are not getting the health care they need. That's why this week I introduced the Kids Come First Act. Help me push through the Republicans' political roadblocks and take care of the 11 million children without health insurance.

Please co-sponsor my Kids Come First Act by clicking here:

http://www.johnkerry.com/KidsFirst

The Republican leadership will try to prevent this essential legislation from ever seeing the light of day. Help me gather one million co-signers for the Kids Come First Act, and we'll force them to act or to admit that they just don't care enough to act. Here's why it's so important to do something now:

• 1/4 of children are not fully up to date on their basic immunizations.
• 1/3 with chronic asthma do not get a prescription for medications they need.
• 1/2 of uninsured children have not had a well child visit in the past year.
• 1 in 6 has delayed or unmet medical needs.
• 1 in 5 has trouble accessing health care.
• 1 in 4 does not see a dentist annually.
• 1 in 3 had no health insurance during 2002 and 2003.

In the Senate, I am working hard to convince my colleagues to co-sponsor this vitally important bill. But, the most important co-sponsors - the ones who can help push this legislation through a Republican Congress and the Bush White House - are the hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists in the johnkerry.com community. If you haven't done so already, please sign our Kids Come First petition and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors:

http://www.johnkerry.com/KidsFirst

To date, nearly 300,000 Americans have signed our Kids Come First petition. Our goal is to top 500,000 before President Bush makes his State of the Union Address on February 2nd. We'll build from there until we stand one million strong. We've got to put getting our children the health care they need at the top of our national agenda. It won't be easy, but we will never relent until we find a way to make sure Kids Come First.

The Bush administration wants to ignore the fact that children without health care translates into needless pain and suffering for millions of American families. But you and I won't let those children be ignored any longer.

Making sure that Kids Come First is the right thing to do. What's more, it makes no economic sense to leave millions of American children uninsured. Immunizations, annual visits to a pediatrician, dental care, and screening for vision, hearing, and developmental problems are all long-term money savers for the health care system as a whole.

And investing now in the health of our children is truly what is key to saving our Social Security system and the long-term financial solvency issues facing Medicare. The health and productivity of the next generation's workforce is what will contribute most to saving these systems, not whether or not we privatize accounts or means test the benefits.

I hope you will take a moment to review this essential proposal -- and I hope you will act to encourage everyone you know to sign our Kids Come First petition now.

As you read this, President Bush is on a health care swing through Ohio. In the midst of photo ops and canned speeches, he is offering no genuine solution to the fact that 11 million American children have no health insurance. You and I must work to provide the ideas and leadership that are missing from the White House and the Republican leaders of Congress. And we have to work day in and day out to mobilize America to cover every child.

Thanks for standing with me in this essential undertaking.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/billsummary.php