WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A majority of the 9 million uninsured American children are in two-parent families where at least one parent is employed, a study released Thursday says.
And if proposed cuts to federal safety-net health-insurance programs become reality, even more working families could face the nightmare of living without health insurance, according to healthcare advocates.
"The problem of uninsured children strikes at the heart of American families," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national healthcare consumer organization, which conducted the study on behalf of the Campaign for Children's Health.
Just under 60 percent of uninsured children come from two-parent families, the study says, and 88 percent come from families where at least one parent works.
"These parents do the right thing and go to work to put bread on the table ... but when they go to bed each night they have to worry their child will have a health problem they can't get treatment for because they're uninsured," Pollack said at a news conference unveiling the results.
The working parents faced with difficult choices between healthcare and other urgent needs are also disproportionately black and Hispanic, the study says. More than 60 percent of uninsured children are from racial or ethnic minorities.
When children lack health insurance, and parents cannot afford to purchase care, it has a dramatic negative impact on their health, according to the study.
More then 30 percent of uninsured children had not seen a doctor in the past year, compared to 10 percent of uninsured children. Children without health coverage were also 13 times more likely than covered children to lack a usual source of care.
Ten percent of uninsured children reported having an unmet dental need, and 23 percent said they have an unmet eye-care need, according to the study data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics.
Programs like Medicaid, which offers coverage to the nation's poorest children, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers children from slightly better-off families, had been making strides toward reducing the number of uninsured children.
For several years, while the overall uninsured population in the United States increased, the uninsurance rate for children ticked downward. But in a U.S. Census report issued earlier this year, the number of uninsured children was found to have increased again.
About two-thirds of children who are uninsured actually qualify for one of the two programs, and children's health advocates have worked to enroll them.
"A clear starting point to ensure children's access to care is to enroll all eligible children in SCHIP and Medicaid," David Alexander, medical adviser for public policy at the National Association of Children's Hospitals, said at the conference. "It will cut the number of uninsured children in this country."
But both programs face severe budget crunches.
Medicaid, which is jointly financed by federal and state governments and administered by states, has become an ever-increasing portion of state budgets and is facing cuts. Congress has also granted states vast new powers to impose co-payments, premiums and benefit limits on Medicaid recipients.
SCHIP, which is financed by flat payments to states, faces a funding shortfall of $800 million for fiscal year 2007. Advocates had hoped Congress would address the issue before adjourning, but now that appears unlikely -- though the program enjoys fairly bipartisan support -- leaving half a million children at risk of losing their SCHIP coverage.
In addition, the program's initial 10-year authorization expires next year, and it must be reauthorized. The reauthorization process could result in reduced funding and additional administrative burdens being placed on parents.
"It's going to be critically important that Congress provide sufficient funds to states so that children who are eligible for coverage can get it," Pollack said.
"However, there is some fear that if SCHIP is fully funded, it will be at the expense of Medicaid, an unacceptable solution," Pollack told United Press International. "Medicaid still covers far more children than SCHIP. We are steadfast in saying that (SCHIP funding) will not come at the expense of the Medicare program."
"I have seen the impact of SCHIP, but the work is not done," said Rhonique Harris, medical director of mobile health programs at Children's National Medical Center.
Making sure that the program remains intact is the responsibility of those who care about the health of children, Harris added. "We are the voice of our children. We are the advocates."
