'Kids are falling off': Why fewer children have health insurance now
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Raquel Cruz has a lot of stress in her life. A single mother of three daughters, she is the manager of a small health clinic and is going to school full-time for an education degree.
But her biggest stressor is worrying about health insurance.
Cruz, 47, of Pharr, Texas, makes about $30,000 a year and cannot afford the insurance offered by the pain management office where she works.
Her oldest daughters, college students, also have no insurance. Her youngest daughter, Korrie Cantu, is 17, young enough to receive coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, a federal program for low-income families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid.
But even that is not guaranteed: Last year, as Cruz was preparing to apply for CHIP renewal, Korrie's coverage was suddenly yanked for more than a month.
"I was walking on eggshells," Cruz said. "Even driving, because you always think, 'Oh, what if I get into a car accident?' Or Korrie would say, 'I'm going to go ice skating,' and I would think, 'No, that's not a good idea.'"
Korrie is far from the only child who lost insurance in 2017, and not all were fortunate enough to get it back like she eventually did. Last year, the number of U.S. children without health insurance jumped by 276,000 — to 3.9 million, up from a low of 3.6 million in 2016 — according to a report published last week by Georgetown University.
It was the first increase in the number of uninsured children in America since 2008, when Joan Alker, the executive director of Georgetown's Center for Children and Families and lead author of the study, started keeping track of the data.
"What was really disturbing was that the number went up even though the economy is doing so well. We would expect the number to go down," Alker said. "Kids are falling off."
Alker said employer-sponsored health insurance coverage went up last year, an expected result of a good economy. Yet losses in public insurance coverage, including CHIP, Medicaid and direct coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, declined enough to push the overall number of uninsured children up.
Multiple factors led to that: states refusing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, creating a gap in affordable coverage options for low-income families; federal budget cuts to outreach programs for the Affordable Care Act; and federal policies targeting immigrants that discourage people from other countries, even if they are legal U.S. citizens, from signing up for federal health insurance.
The government's delay over renewing funding for CHIP , with some families not reapplying because they were uncertain whether the program had run out of money, also contributed to the chaos, experts say.
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I find it pretty obvious,
that the current completely incompetent, unless commenting on corruption, corporation currently occupying the oval office, that has been a down right embaresment, along width the thick skulled GOP party of the non-poor,
have accomplished what for profit corporations lobbyist dollars, did attempt to purchase, and have partially suckseeded in,
and that would be,
saving mega Billion $ corporations, tens of millions, all while screwing over the most needy in our incredibly rich country.
Often economics comes into play with these things. Even the example family in the article faces economic stress.
Two questions:
What is the definition of "the economy is doing so well"?
and
What has the curve on health care costs been over the most recent years?
Doesn't matter what I say. Everybody knows I want Medicare for all.
NEVER
A sad commentary that a country that is supposed to be the ''greatest country on earth'' cannot solve a simple problem and ensure that everyone has heathcare...
Like most of the serious problems in America, the lack of a national health care plan is NOT the fault of 'both sides.' Banana republics don't have health care plans. The first thing we have to do is stop being one.
So much for the Affordable Care Act. This Act was dependent upon that dangling carrot - aka Expanded Medicaid. When the Supreme Court ruled that states need not expand Medicaid...nothing was done to close the 'Family Glitch'. Small Business Employees cannot qualify for subsidies to help cover the family...spouse and children...if their employer offers affordable coverage for them.
We've had the PPACA for some time now...instead of everyone receiving affordable care ...we are facing increasing Health Insurance Premiums AND increasing costs for Health Care. What happened to the AFFORDABLE in all of this? What happened to - 'If everyone has coverage the costs for Health Care will go down'?
Are Health Insurance Premiums rising because of a good economy...or is it because of the actual costs Health Insurers are facing?
I've said this a million times...we will not be able to fix what's wrong in our Health Care system until we address the actual drivers - HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS, HOSPITALS and PHARMACEUTICALS. Health Insurance is a third party vehicle that merely assists one in receiving Health Care. Rising costs in Health Care will drive up costs of Health Insurance.
I was just about to say "Obamacare Glitch".
Economy is very good.
Therefore the labor market is very tight.
Therefore more employers offer benefits.
Therefore fewer people qualify for the subsidy.
Mostly kids are doing without in states that refused to expand Medicaid.
The working poor are doing without in half the states because? Obama?
Are there actual numbers on that?
Pelosi. The working poor are doing without because the law is exceedingly badly drafted, ill-conceived and "unworkable", even according to Obama administration officials.
If you really wanted to cover everybody, you'd start by eliminated Medicaid and rolling the money into a single, consistent program with no gaps.
The crunch is not with normal healthcare since it is cheaper to keep people healthy than to pay for chronic illnesses. Where the numbers break down is with life extending procedures and therapies and long term care. The term "Death Panel" is harsh and scary but in the end it is the hospital and insurance finance departments who decide who gets what. I suspect in the end we will end up with a two tier system which provides basic care that does not cover life extension and then another level above which does but only for those who can pay or who have premium insurance policies.
Kids are going uninsured because dumbass states did not expand Medicaid.
Because the PPACA was designed to be dependent upon that expansion in every State. When that FAILED (Supreme Court Ruling June 28, 2012) - what was done? Blame the States? How's that working out?
Health Care Costs in this Nation are rising - not because of life extending procedures, or therapies. Health Care Costs are rising because there is no control . An MRI in this Nation costs - $1,119...in Australia $215. A day in the hospital - $5,220...in Spain - $424. Harvoni is a drug that cures hepatitis C - it costs $10,000 more in the US than anywhere else. When costs are controlled...then Health Insurance rates will level off and affordable care will be available to all. Until then...everything keeps going up and up and up.
Australia has Medicare for all. Spain has universal healthcare.
In Australia 10% of the population pay 52% of the total federal tax. They also have an illegal immigration problem.
You are correct that they don't have 300 million people. It's around 25 million.
I don't see what that has to do with univeral coverage though.
You are assuming that the people that would be covered don't pay into the system. In Australia the citizen pays 1.25 to 1.50 percent of their income and the employeer pay around the same. So both are paying into it and having actually lived in Australia and was been served by the medical system I found it to be quite good.
My children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all live in Australia and are quite pleased with the system.
You would think that the ''Greatest Country on Earth'' could find a way to cover it's citizens with decent health care.
In Australia everyone pays, no exceptions. You can not opt out but you can pay for private insurance if you choose too. The last time I checked a private plan for a family of 4 would run around $A350 per month. Quite inexpensive compared to the US.
Also what I found is that a growing number of doctors in Australia were practicing in the US but gave it up because of the red tape, insurance companies and insurance for malpractice and returned to Australia to continue their practice there.
I have two grandchildren that have severe medical problems. One had his first major surgery at 24 hours old and has a total of 31 surgeries and he's 11 years old. The medical care and expertise in the Perth Medical Center is more than outstanding. My other grandson has Downs syndrome and in Australia the care is outstanding.
In the US the parents of either child would have been bankrupt with the type of medical bills that they had.
They don't pay income tax because their income is too low. The solution is to raise wages. Stop blaming the poor for being poor but instead blame those who aren't paying a living wage because of their greed and an economy that is rigged in favor of the upper 10%.
Good to hear that your youngest has done well.
My point in referencing my grandkids is that if they have been born in the US our medical/insurance would have left their parents in a position that they would have been struggling financially. In Australia they are not and have excellent care for the kids. Both grandkids will have medical problems their entire lives and the costs don't stop.
Maybe that would be true if the economy wasn't rigged.
Such as the people who work and still fall behind or those that get laid off because of corporate mismanagement and outsourcing? Wages continue to decline relative to inflation and yet you blame the workers for that idea. Do you want to blame people who can't afford to go to school and people who barely make ends meet because of student loans?
Sears filed for bankruptcy and yet the management thinks that they deserve 25 million in bonuses. How do they deserve a bonus when they file for bankruptcy?
Yes. If they don't get paid enough, they should get a different job. If they don't have the skills for a high paying job, what did they spend their time on while in school? If they can't get a better job, they need to cut spending. THEY have control over the situation.
They decide to work for that wage. There is nothing in the world keeping them from starting their own business....because profits are up.
Oh hell yes. With all the money available for grants and scholarships, if someone "can't afford" to go to college in America, they aren't smart enough to be there. If they "can barely get by" because of their student loan debt, they obviously didn't read the "income based repayment" section of the letters they were sent, and one begins to wonder how they graduated in the first place.
'Because the PPACA was designed to be dependent upon that expansion in every State. When that FAILED (Supreme Court Ruling June 28, 2012) - what was done? Blame the States? How's that working out?'
You can thank those republicans/gop in those states who refused Medicaid expansion to spite Obama.
That's what we are doing - blaming those states republicans who refused to expand Medicaid to spite Obama.
Maybe those states would've accepted an expansion- if those tax dollars wouldn't have been going to childless, able bodied adults who had no reason to not be working and just wanted to coast on the system.
Is Affordable Health Care really a partisan issue? No - it is an issue that affects every one of us in this Nation.
States that reviewed their already bulging medicaid budgets said 'no' because they knew they could not afford the increase in medicaid numbers without eventually affecting every citizen of their state. It isn't 'free' forever.
Nope, they blocked it to spite President Obama, only reason.
Who said it was free?
"If these kids want health care, they need to get a job and pay for their own!!!!!!!!!!"
Sincerely,
The GOP.