NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Health
Fund (CHF), a national health care nonprofit dedicated to medically
underserved children across the U.S., today released a new report
titled, "Unfinished Business: More Than 20 Million Children in the
U.S. Still Lack Sufficient Access to Essential Health Care."
Children's Health Fund's analyses show that 20.3 million U.S.
children—28% of the pediatric population under the age of 18—are
without adequate health care is based on three considerations: a)
children who are uninsured, b) those who are insured, but do not
receive regular primary care, and c) children who are publicly
insured, connected to primary care, but do not receive essential
and timely specialty care. CHF's conclusions were derived from
research into national health data sets as well as its own clinical
experiences and programmatic data.
"While children's health care has experienced increased and
significant attention in recent years, our analyses show there is
still a long way to go before we can claim that all U.S. children
have access to the care they need. There has been a persistent
misconception that simply providing health insurance is the same as
assuring effective access to appropriate health care. It isn't,"
said Dr. Irwin Redlener, Co-Founder
and President of Children's Health Fund, and the paper's lead
author. "Although Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program
(CHIP), and most recently the Affordable Care Act (ACA) insure more
children than ever before, millions of kids are not getting the
care they need."
CHF's report offers several actionable recommendations for
policymakers as the U.S. prepares for a new presidential
administration in 2017. Distinguishing between financial and
non-financial barriers, the authors endorse strategies for
improving access to pediatric health care. Regarding the former,
these include reducing or eliminating costly co-payments and
increasing reimbursement rates for providers treating underserved
communities.
For non-financial barriers, CHF suggests increasing incentives
encouraging health care providers to practice in poor communities,
supporting improved access through telehealth and mobile clinics
creating more health care access points including expanded
school-based health care opportunities addressing transportation
barriers, promoting health literacy, and helping parents with
limited English proficiency.
"Conversations about health care in this country tend to focus
on adults, because that's where we spend the most money," notes co-
author and CHF Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Delaney Gracy. "Part of the point we hope to
make is that prevention and early interventions for children can
decrease burden of disease and impact later on, as they grow into a
generation of healthier adults. The national cost of common
illnesses related to poverty and poor medical access, like asthma
and obesity, is several billions of dollars annually."
CHF's research points out that of the 20.3 million children—28%
of all U.S. children—who are not receiving adequate care, more than
80% are insured but not receiving optimal care. Based
on analyses of National Health Interview Survey data from 2014 and
2015, "Unfinished Business" asserts that 3.3 million U.S. children
are uninsured while 10.3 million do not have adequate access to
primary care, in spite of having some form of insurance. In
addition, CHF extrapolated findings from its own programs in
New York City to estimate that 6.7
million children—9% of all U.S. children—on Medicaid or CHIP who
have access to primary care, are still not receiving the specialty
care they need to be healthy.
"Without losing sight of the improvements we've made as a
country—including at least 6 million more insured children since
1997—the purpose of this white paper is to raise awareness about
the work that remains," said CHF Executive Director, Dennis Walto. "We have come a long way - but key
programs that contributed to improved children's health care like
CHIP and the ACA are not limitless. CHIP funding is set to expire
in 2017, the ACA will doubtless be subject to revisions. It is our
mission to promote the extension and expansion of these initiatives
as we move towards a truly universal health care system for all
children." Walto continued, "...It is critical, at this point
in our efforts to ensure health care for all children, that we not
forfeit gains made - we have come far, we owe it to our children to
push through the last mile."
CHF's president, and professor of pediatrics and health policy
and management at Columbia University
in New York, Dr. Redlener added,
"the consequences of failing to ensure unencumbered access to
quality health care are enormous. Unattended health conditions can
interfere with the ability to learn in school. Assuring that all
children grow up healthy and educated is essential to America's
future."
ABOUT CHILDREN'S HEALTH FUND
Children's Health Fund was created in in 1987 in response to an
unacceptable situation. For thousands of kids packed into
New York City's homeless shelters,
their chance for the future was dim. That inspired
singer/songwriter Paul Simon and
pediatrician/child advocate Irwin
Redlener, MD, to do something life-changing for these
children. Adequate medical care was an essential first step in
helping them to be healthy and ready to learn, to have dreams and
the hope of achieving them. Today, Children's Health Fund has 53
mobile clinics, each a "doctor's offices on wheels," serving
hundreds of locations across the country. And, over the past 29
years, the organization has grown to support over 275,000 health
care encounters annually for disadvantaged children. For more
information, visit childrenshealthfund.org.
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SOURCE Children's Health Fund