SEATTLE, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The number of uninsured children in Washington State has soared over the past two years, reaching levels not seen since 1993.
This explosion in uninsured children is the result of a series of public policy decisions by Washington lawmakers that have pushed more than 45,000 children off publicly financed health insurance programs in the space of 16 months. A report released today by the Working for Health Coalition details recent children’s health policy changes and their effects on low-income and immigrant children.
While the stated aim of these policies was to save money by weeding out ineligible children, most of those who have lost coverage are, in fact, eligible for Medicaid and other public health insurance programs.
At the same time, these so-called cost-saving measures have actually cost physicians, hospitals and community agencies a lot of money.
“Policy changes over the past couple of years have harmed tens of thousands of children while reducing the state’s Medicaid budget by less than 1 percent,” said Bob Crittenden, Chief of Family Medicine at Harborview Medical Center. “They’re penny wise and a ton foolish.”
The policy changes have included eliminating a Medicaid look-alike program for immigrant children and increased administrative barriers to care for children in the state’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance programs. Declines are expected to continue as administrative barriers such as more frequent Medicaid renewals come on line.
Loss of insurance has affected every part of the state, but rural communities -- those with the fewer resources to address the shortfalls -- have been especially hard hit.
Advocates for children’s health are particularly concerned about these substantial drop-offs in health insurance coverage just before the state plans to erect another barrier to care in the form of monthly premiums that many families won’t be able to pay.
“We should all be alarmed at the incredibly high percentage of our state’s children who have no access to regular health care,” said Jon Gould, deputy director of the Children’s Alliance. “Even more outrageous is the fact that pushing children off public insurance was an intended consequence of these policy decisions.”
For a full copy of “WRONG TARGET: Policies That Hurt Kids and Cost Us All More”, please go to: http://workingforhealth.org/Index.html.
The Working for Health Coalition is an educational effort, comprising over 30 diverse organizations representing health care, labor, faith, children, and education interests The coalition’s primary goal is to increase public knowledge of the health care safety net and the public programs that support it. To learn more about the Working for Health Coalition, go to: http://workingforhealth.org/Index.html.
Working for Health Coalition
CONTACT: Bob Crittenden, Chief, Family Medicine, Harborview MedicalCenter, +1-206-731-6770; or Jon Gould, deputy director of Children’s Alliance,+1-206-324-0340, ext. 19
Web site: http://workingforhealth.org/Index.html
