Connect for Kids / Child Advocacy 360 / Youth Policy Action Center - Insurance & Coverage

For Young Americans, Health Care Reform is Our Fight

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:59:26 -0500

CNN’s poll released [in August] shows a striking generational divide over support of Obama’s health care plan, with the reform being significantly more popular among young people than among adults over the age of 50. Nevertheless, every day I try new responses to those that ignorantly assume I don’t care about health care reform because I’m under 30 and supposedly invincible.

Racial Disparities Found Under State Health Plans

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:12:25 -0500

A detailed analysis of state-provided data has found racial disparities in health care among the three million New Yorkers in the state’s public insurance programs.

Los Angeles Healthy Kids Improves Access to Care and Health Status

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:38:37 -0500

The Los Angeles Healthy Kids program provides health insurance to low income children in the county who have no other source of coverage (including undocumented children and children above the income limits for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families).

Three Independent Evaluations of Healthy Kids Programs Find Substantial Gains in Children's Dental Health Care

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:37:29 -0500

This brief presents highlights from rigorous, independent evaluations of the Healthy Kids programs in three California counties: Los Angeles, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. Launched by Children’s Health Initiatives (CHIs) in these counties between 2001 and 2003, the three Healthy Kids programs provide children with comprehensive health insurance coverage, including a broad range of medical, dental, and vision care; prescription drugs; and mental health services.

Health Care Reform Resource

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:43:03 -0500

Families USA offers an online resource to help you better understand the health care crisis and how to achieve affordable coverage for all. They have gathered a wealth of resources that outline everything you need to know about health care reform.

Affordable Health Care Keeps Children and Families Healthy

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:13:01 -0500

The health of young children is negatively affected when parents forego health care coverage for themselves or other adult members of the household. Children's HealthWatch finds that children whose fa

Health Care Reform to Benefit Children Covered By CHIP

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:11:04 -0500

This brief examines the potential effects of health care reform on the more than 25 million children who currently have coverage under Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. Increased pa

Senate Vote on Health Reform Delayed

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:05:11 -0500

Two Committees in the Senate have been working on separate pieces of health reform legislation. The first, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee , passed its bill on July 15, 2009.

House Committees Approve Health Reform Bill

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:03:00 -0500

Two of the House Committees with jurisdiction over health reform passed legislation out of Committee that would overhaul our nation's health care system. On July 17, the Ways and Means Committee approved the tri-Committee's health reform legislation, the America's Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R.

Scott Amendment Guarantees Children are Covered From Head to Toe

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:43:36 -0500

Today, a leading children’s group is praising improvements to made to the House health reform legislation that would guarantee coverage for children’s unique developmental health care needs. Read

Health Reform in Jeopardy!

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:39:04 -0500

After weeks of debate, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee just passed legislation to transform our broken health care system. And the House of Representatives recently introduced a similar bill which will be debated in three key committees.

These are major steps forward for health care reform.

Both the Senate HELP Committee and House bills propose significant health care advances that would:

(1) End discriminatory practices by insurance companies that deny coverage to people based on pre-existing conditions, or charge higher rates because of gender or health status;
(2) Help make coverage more affordable by capping families' out-of-pocket costs and providing subsidies for low-income families; and
(3) Keep costs under control by getting more for our health care dollars, for example by rewarding doctors for quality (not quantity) of services provided.

We applaud this progress, but the fight continues. There is still a long way to go in both the Senate and the House!

Sign-on Letter: Children in Health Reform

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:29:12 -0500

The House is preparing to mark-up health reform legislation in all three committees with oversight over the issue and the Senate Finance Committee is releasing their draft this week or next. We are very concerned about the possibility of children being left worse off in the legislation and need to keep raising awareness about the important issues for children in health reform. We have drafted the following sign-on letter to the House and Senate.

If your organization would like to sign-on to this letter to the House and Senate, please reply to signon@firstfocus.net or contact Cate Hodgetts at catherineh@firstfocus.net if you have any questions or need additional information. Thanks so much for your consideration!!!

Recovery Bill Likely to Prevent Medicaid Cutbacks

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:01:45 -0500

By providing state Medicaid programs with $87 billion in fiscal relief, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is likely to be effective in preventing many large Medicaid cutbacks. Targ

Government-Funded Health Insurance Option Proposed

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:13:50 -0500

House Democrats unveiled their health care reform bill this week. The bill seeks to expand health care coverage to the approximately 40 million Americans who are currently uninsured by lowering the cost of health care and making the system more efficient.

Disparities in Child Outcomes Found Among Infants

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:10:20 -0500

A new study finds disparities between poor, at-risk children and more advantaged children as early as 9 months of age - extending prior research that primarily focuses on disparities at kindergarten entry and beyond.