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We received $5,000 from the Norwegian government when our first son was born in Trondheim in 2003. This helped pay all the new expenses for raising a child. More important was that Norway covered all our medical bills plus paid our taxicab fare to and from the hospital. It didn’t stop there. The government covered all clinic visits and deposited $175 into our Norwegian bank account each month to pay for child expenses until our son reached 18 years of age or until we left Norway.
President Donald Trump had proposed a similar program to pay a “baby bonus” of $5,000 for newborns, which got watered down to $1,000 in the final budget reconciliation bill. This is a great start, but remember that Norway offered five times this amount 21 years ago and now gives about $8,700 per baby. Norwegian working mothers, however, forgo this lump sum and receive 49 weeks off work at their full salary — paid by the government, not her employer. The father (or partner) can use some of those months, too.
We should use these Nordic countries as a model for how to help our children. For example, Scandinavian countries offer free tuition to their students. Compare that with my alma mater, Macalester College, which now costs $70,632, not including $16,476 room and board, per year to attend. In all fairness, most students receive generous scholarships to this great school. Minnesota offers the “North Star Promise” to families making less than $80,000 per year to public colleges, and many other private schools offer the same deal. Our federal government offers no such benefits.
The idea of Trump’s “baby bonus” is to help reverse a below-replacement birthrate in the United States. The graying of the U.S. population means that the working population is declining. Fewer people will be paying into Social Security. Ironically, the labor force in the U.S. is also being reduced due to cruel deportations of immigrants who have come here for a better life.
No new parent in the U.S. would turn down $1,000, but this won’t even cover the family deductible on most health care plans — if the parents are fortunate to have insurance. The new cuts in Medicaid are a step backward in helping lower-income families make ends meet. Raising a child until 18 years of age can easily cost $300,000.
If we are serious about helping these new families, at a bare minimum we need to cover their health insurance; otherwise, it’s financial folly to have kids.
