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Insuring More Hispanic Children
Jan 19, 2016 Issues: Health Care
Despite a nationwide push via the Affordable Care Act for all Americans to have health insurance, sadly, Texas still has the largest number of uninsured Hispanic children in the country, according to a new report.
The report, released last week by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the National Council of La Raza, assessed insurance rates of Hispanic children in all 50 states during the first year of the Affordable Care Act. It found Texas had a 9 percent decline in the number of uninsured Hispanic children from 2013 to 2014; however, the report indicated that about 533,000 Hispanic children still remain uninsured.
That’s as many people as live in the entire state of Wyoming and nearly two-thirds of the population of Hidalgo County. And that’s unacceptable.
“Texas has an uninsured rate of 15.3 percent among Hispanic children, much higher than the national average of 9.7 percent. There is a clear need for improvement,” Sonya Schwartz of the Georgetown Center said in a news release. “We need to remove barriers and ensure that all children in Texas have the health coverage they need to be healthy learners.”
Key is more outreach with regards to healthcare enrollment, and not just for children, but for parents and other caregivers, Schwartz said.
This only makes sense and it is up to all of us to help pass along this information.
We all know that healthier children are better learners and more productive students. And they grow up to be more productive members of society. Therefore, it is critical that every child receive the healthcare services he or she deserves.
School districts cannot be the only outreach to families and parents. Nonprofit organizations and civic groups also must help inform of the various services available through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, both of which allow families to enroll children at any time.
Under ACA (otherwise called Obamacare) families have until Jan. 31 to enroll in the Marketplace, in which many healthcare options are offered for children and adults.
“Expanding Medicaid to cover low-income working adults and educating parents about health insurance options available to them and their families will bring us closer to ensuring that all children can get the healthy start in life they need and deserve,” said Dr. Laura Guerra-Cardus, associate director of the Children’s Defense Fund–Texas. “It’s critical that we work to ensure every child has the health care they need to grow and thrive, and an important way to do that is to ensure parents can get covered, too.”
Alas, expanding Medicaid remains something that state government in Texas refuses to do.
This story originally published in The Monitor:
