The numbers just released from the Oregon Health & Science University have revealed that more than 6.7 million U.S. children don’t have health insurance and a surprising 25 percent of insured children lack adequate insurance coverage. What concerns East Coast Health Insurance about these numbers is that what these researchers have not cited is that of that 6.7 million at least 40% of these children could get benefits is their parents would do some research. Nearly every state has uninsured programs for children including the SCHIP program for children. Parents, get off your bums and get your kids health insurance, and if you can’t qualify for these programs get a health insurance quote from us and buy a darn policy online!
Christina Bethell, an associate professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University, says the National Survey of Children’s Health 2007 also reveals significant state-to-state differences on a broad range of health issues for children. For example, 23 percent of adolescents in Utah are overweight or obese compared with 44 percent in Mississippi.
Insured children in Minnesota are almost twice as likely as children in Hawaii to have insurance that does not meet their needs, while 82 percent of children in Pennsylvania received needed mental healthcare services, but only 42 percent of children in Texas received the same access to mental healthcare.
“The survey highlights disparities in health and healthcare quality across states and groups of children,” Bethell says in a statement. “The state a child lives in, a child’s race, income and neighborhood all significantly impact his or her health.”
The national survey was based on 91,642 interviews representing an average of 1,700 children younger than age 18 in each of the 50 states. More than 40 percent of children are not receiving care within a “medical home,” defined as care that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated and compassionate, the study says.
Children are often lost in the noise of the health care debate, but it’s sad that a young boy or girl does not have access to health care when they are young and need it most. How can the richest country in the world not provide care to its young people? It’s unethical.