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Doctors, Lawyers Team to Aid Children's Health

The number of poor children in America grew last year for the third year in a row -- the fastest rate in a decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase is a bad sign for the state of children's health: studies show that poor children get sick far more often than better-off kids.

But doctors at a hospital in Boston have come up with a new way to tackle poor children's health problems and they're getting help from a group that they usually view as their enemy: lawyers.

As part of our series on low-wage America, NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports on the Family Advocacy Program of Boston Medical Center.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: December 10, 2004 at 12:00 AM EST
The audio for this story implies that the Massachusetts State Health Insurance Agency paid for taxis to take children to doctor's appointments AND schools. In fact, local school districts covered transportation to their schools.
Daniel Zwerdling is a correspondent in NPR's Investigations Unit.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.