Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Better Health Insurance Access Leads to Healthier Children, Pt.4

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We have a long way to go, regarding the health insurance/care disparity.  The report states that even the best-ranking states fall shy of the goals for health insurance and quality care.  Not surprising, again, Massachusetts ranked best in health insurance and quality of care.  They have an admirable score where, 75% of their children had been seen by both at least one doctor and at least one dentist in the past year. This is contrasted against Idaho where, only 46% of their children had. Perhaps the bottom-line driving force is government participation. It is shown that the District of Columbia leads the way with the highest spending per child of $8,295. This is contrasted against the lowest, which was Utah. Utah only spent $3,972 per child.  This report draws data from many various agencies and groups, such as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Ms. Davis sums it all up in saying "One of the major efforts states can take to improve quality of care is to provide health insurance coverage to children, particularly low-income children".  The Commonwealth has found that those states attending well to this area are also the ones with the best report, when ranked against all these “various dimensions” of health care.  They also excel in measures of equity, to reduce the social negligence of leaving the children of minority and from low-income families in medical despair.  It is strongly believed that both SCHIP and Medicare will require additional funding to alleviate these important concerns. To achieve this, it is essential to get greater accessibility for our children to get health insurance. A senior health policy analyst with Families USA, Jenny Sullivan assesses the value of this study by saying "We think this is a great report and it shows what we have been trying to show for a long time, which is how important Medicaid and SCHIP are to children's health."