Latest news with #PaulaLantz
Fox News
18-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Trump's idea to make Americans have babies again gets mixed reviews from experts
President Donald Trump called himself the "fertilization president" during Women's History Month, but some experts cited claims that "baby bonuses," such as the $5,000 plan Trump floated, have been tried in the past and had mixed results. Singapore, Hungary and Australia are three examples of countries where such programs have been instituted. Singapore has been subsidizing parenthood for decades, with the latest endowment per child reaching S$ 11,000 (US $8,000) as of 2023, but the tiny Asian nation still has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Gabriella Hoffman, an official at the Independent Women's Forum, wrote on social media that baby bonuses did not work in Hungary. "Why would we replicate this here?" she asked. That country, led by Trump-favored President Viktor Orban, also incentivizes its residents to have more kids, including through tax breaks for families with three or more offspring. Hungary's birth rate rose slightly about a decade ago but returned to and remains close to one. Australia's program began in 2004 and indexed to inflation in 2008 what was then an A$ 5,000 (US $3,180) for parents per birth. The government's self-reported birthrate statistic was about 1.5 as of 2023. Paula Lantz, a social demographer from the University of Michigan, told the Guardian that in the U.S., the percentage of families having more than one child has dropped and that "there is something else going on" – including non-financial considerations like quality of life effects. An official at the liberal Center for American Progress told the outlet she had a child a few months ago and that the promised $5,000 credit "wouldn't do much" even with good insurance and paid occupational family leave. Andrea Ippolito, founder of maternal health tech platform SimpliFed, told Fox News Digital that while the $5,000 is a "nice boost," the initiative "just lightly scratches the surface of the support that is needed for families, especially in the early years with childcare and healthcare support that is largely missing from the postpartum care experience." "In order to increase the birth rate, much more is needed to support and ensure that both mom and baby's health is prioritized," Ippolito said. "That means both physical health needs (which are not right now as demonstrated with doubling the preeclampsia rate doubling) and mental health needs." On the other hand, Emily and Nathan Berning – co-founders of crisis-pregnancy support site said that the baby bonus touted by Trump "is a positive step, but it doesn't go far enough." "Financial aid after delivery is helpful, but the real need is stability throughout pregnancy—rent, food, counseling, and emotional support," the Bernings said. "If we want to raise birthrates and protect children, we must act earlier and ensure no woman feels forced into a decision out of fear or isolation." They touted the benefits of pregnancy clinics that are founded by both pro-life and pro-choice advocates, saying that is how to prioritize "compassion over politics." Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a proposal for the feds to provide $1,000 in an account for each American child. The "Invest America Act" would create "a private tax-advantaged account," and Cruz said in a statement last week the investments can be placed in a broad, low-cost fund that tracks the S&P 500, growing tax-deferred until the individual reaches age 18. Distributions after age 18 would be taxed at the capital gains rate. Fox News Digital reached out to Cruz for any comment on claims from critics that past iterations of the accounts have not been successful. Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House for comment on criticisms.
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump is trying to pay his way into a US baby boom. Experts say it won't work
One of Donald Trump's priorities for his second term is getting Americans to have more babies – and the White House has a new proposal to encourage them to do so: a $5,000 'baby bonus'. The plan to give cash payments to mothers after delivery shows the growing influence of the 'pronatalist' movement in the US, which, citing falling US birthrates, calls for 'traditional' family values and for women – particularly white women – to have more children. But experts say $5,000 checks won't lead to a baby boom. Between unaffordable health care, soaring housing costs, inaccessible childcare and a lack of federal parental leave mandates, Americans face a swath of expensive hurdles that disincentivize them from having large families – or families at all – and that will require a much larger government investment to overcome. It is true that the US is seeing declining birthrates – and has been for some time. While fertility rates bounced around what demographers call 'replacement level' – the rate at which the population replenishes aging people with new ones – in the decades that followed the post-world war two baby boom, they have been on a steady downward trend since the 2010 Great Recession, so that now, US fertility rates sit at around 1.6 births per woman. But these numbers are far from alarming, according to demographers and policy analysts. US birthrates are still in line with those in other developing countries, where societies and economies are continuing to thrive, and concerns about the sustainability of programs such as social security can be fixed through other remedies, like raising the tax limit. In the US, the modest decline in fertility can be attributed to a drop in teen pregnancy rates, as well as more families with two working parents and delaying having children. But these elements alone do not explain the trends we're seeing, says Paula Lantz, a social demographer and professor of health policy at the University of Michigan. While the number of people who don't have any children isn't changing, demographers are seeing the percentage of families who have two kids drop, and the percentage of those who have just one increase. 'There is something else going on,' she said. That 'something else', Lantz and her colleagues say, is how challenging it is to raise a family in the US from a financial perspective. For many Americans, having a larger family means sacrificing quality of life. Between the costs of healthcare, including the thousands on average that Americans pay just to give birth in a hospital, childcare, housing and basics such as formula and diapers, having a baby in the US is a huge expense – one that experts say a single $5,000 payment would barely make a dent in. 'I had a baby a few months ago, and a one-time payment of $5,000 wouldn't do much if I didn't also have paid leave that let me keep my job, good health insurance, family support, incredible childcare and the kind of job that allows me to both provide for my family and be there for pickup,' said Lily Roberts, the managing director for inclusive growth at the Center for American Progress. 'Every mom in America deserves that, and every dad does too.' Stephanie Schmidt, the director of childcare and early education at the Center for Law and Social Policy, emphasized that the average cost of infant care in the US is $14,000 per year, with that number ticking up to closer to $25,000 per year in high-cost-of-living areas. '$5,000 gets you almost nowhere when you're thinking about utilizing it to pay for the expenses of having a young child,' she said. Schmidt also noted that when other countries have tried similar approaches, they made little to no difference in how many children people choose to have. In Australia, where a $3,000 baby bonus was put in place in 2004 to reverse declining fertility rates, there was a brief spike in birthrates immediately after a bonus was offered, but those rates dropped again in subsequent years. Experts say this is because families simply move up their timelines, having the same number of kids they already intended to have, only earlier. 'They want to make sure they get [the benefit] before that policy is changed by the next government,' said Ron Lee, the director of the Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging at the University of California, Berkeley. Plus, most of the other countries that have tried baby bonuses also have robust social and healthcare systems, so the cash payments went further than they would in the US. 'It's not working in those contexts, so it's certainly not going to work in ours,' said Lantz. To change minds and behaviors, there need to be much more substantial policy changes, experts say, that address the housing crisis, offer childcare subsidies, make healthcare accessible and affordable and guarantee paid family leave. '[This] would have such a more significant impact for families because it's not a one-time investment,' said Schmidt. Deliberate efforts to address the climate crisis could also encourage more people to have children as younger people are delaying or forgoing starting families because of climate anxieties, says Lee, pointing to surveys that suggest this trend. Evidence also shows that people have fewer children during times of political uncertainty and instability – a dynamic experts say this administration is only intensifying. 'If the problem they're trying to solve is addressing a low birthrate, then create the conditions to make birth possible and make raising a family possible,' said Mary Ignatius, the executive director of advocacy group Parent Voices California. That isn't to say that $5,000 wouldn't be well-received, says Roberts. It might help pay for a month or two of childcare; help families buy a new crib, stroller and other gear, all of which are poised to become more expensive with rising tariffs; or offset hospital costs. For lower-income families especially, research shows that receiving no-strings cash bonuses can help them reach a point of financial stability, especially when kids are younger. But experts emphasize that other actions taken by the administration to dismantle programs that already support American families and children belie any honorable intentions. To date, the Trump administration has proposed eliminating Head Start, a program that supports families with very low incomes in accessing childcare, as well as cutting funds to Medicaid, which provides health care coverage for low-income Americans. (The Biden administration also let the child tax credit – which expanded eligibility for pay outs of up to $3,600 for American families – expire, even though it's been credited with lifting millions of children out of poverty.) 'Those are the things that women need to be able to make the choices of how they want to be a parent,' said Ignatius. 'Eliminating the programs at Medicaid, Head Start, TANF (temporary assistance for needy families), food stamps – that equates to much more than $5,000 in support for low-income families.' The dismantling of the federal workforce in the Department of Education, the justice department, which oversees juvenile justice initiatives, and the Department of Health and Human Services, where staff responsible for distributing funds for state welfare and foster care programs were gutted, will also have a negative impact on American families. 'Even the little things that improve a family's life, like children's museum grants and public libraries, are reeling from cuts', said Roberts. 'All American families are going to feel the impact of this administration, and creepy plans to give moms a medal absolutely won't make up for what they're taking away.' For Schmidt, the White House's actions speak to a fundamental disconnect between statements that encourage Americans to have children and actions that make doing so increasingly out of reach. 'There is such an emphasis in this administration on birth, and such a lack of support for people once they're here,' she said.
