World-Herald editorial: Abandoned in Nebraska

Now we know how far some Nebraskans will go to make a political point.

They’ll not only support, as a general rule, the blocking of prenatal care for pregnant women in Nebraska if they aren’t U.S. citizens. They’ll even support blocking care for such women who are already pregnant and need the care now.

That’s the remarkable signal that a large contingent of the Nebraska Legislature, as well as Gov. Dave Heineman, have sent State Sen. Kathy Campbell. They’ve told that lawmaker — one of the few in the Legislature to stand up resolutely on this issue — to forget about her proposal for Nebraska to cover part of the prenatal care costs for these women.

But on top of that, they even told her to forget about her modest fallback alternative, which would have helped cover the prenatal costs for such women who are pregnant now and need the help.

That alternative would have set a deadline of April 17 for women to apply for the coverage. The proposal hardly would have involved a gargantuan cost. But no, not even that frail legislative amendment was acceptable to either the fraidy-cat lawmakers or the unbending governor.

So, these women are now abandoned to fate. And when those children are born (if they are born), they’ll generally be at higher risk for health problems and disabilities.

All those newborns then will be U.S. citizens. That means they’re eligible to receive taxpayer-funded health coverage through Medicaid — just in time to cover the expenses of a $2,100-a-day neonatal intensive care unit for those who need it due to major health problems.

This decision, in short, makes no financial sense. And its moral cost will be measured, for years to come, in the health consequences for women and children.

By opting for such inaction, Nebraska officials have shown that they are afraid. Afraid of taking a stand that would — heaven forbid! — put them at political risk. Afraid of showing independence of mind and telling some voters what they might not want to hear. Afraid of taking the heat for a vote of courage and common decency when those qualities were exactly what the occasion required.

Instead, those officials flinched. They took the politically easy way out. They showed how far some people truly will go to make a point — even if it means turning the state’s back on the health needs of pregnant women and their unborn children.

This is a remarkable failure of leadership.

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