Chris Fleming of Health Affairs Blog has highlighted the debate surrounding State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization, discontinuities, and enrollment in his blog. Undeniably this is such an important topic. I wrote a research paper this spring on uninsured children and the variations across SCHIP. Unfortunately the discussion is warranted (referencing the first article and second article he pointed out in Health Affairs). There are gaps in coverage, low enrollment, and eligibility changes and interruptions.
Though the function of my research paper was not to express my opinion, rather to report information, I certainly developed one by the end of it.
Reading all of these different individuals’ research on the SCHIP debate frustrates me.
- First, they cannot seem provide me with any new information in addition to what I discovered last spring.
- Second, how is everyone missing the point? Really. I want to read an article by an individual that has an opinion on how our policy makers have failed once again and created a patchy program. I do not need to read more statistics. Give me a solution.
Consequently I have decided to share my opinion on the topic…. And I would love to hear anyone else’s opinion or proposed solution.
To me SCHIP is about developing and supporting the youth of our country. We have developed and supported our country’s children for years through public schooling. We give every child the chance to succeed in life through educational opportunities from youth to adolescence. “Knowledge equals power”… right?
Well kind of. In this country it’s more along the lines… “Knowledge and health contribute to wealth and wealth equals power.” For this reason I believe that every child should additionally be afforded the chance to maintain a good bill of health. I cannot see how anyone, especially children, who doesn’t have access to a doctor, or medication, or any other care they need from the health arena (e.g. psychiatry, physical therapy), can truly succeed in school, much less life.
The answer is not about increasing enrollment, making single mothers, fathers and families fill out application forms, standardizing eligibility, or closing gaps in coverage. The answer is providing every child with free education and free healthcare.
If this were the premise of childhood (free education and free healthcare) I might reconsider my opinion on needing a more “universal” healthcare system. Who knows, I might even believe that our government was providing children with an equal (well at least a more honest) chance of succeeding as adults.
At the end of the day I simply wouldn’t feel so bad about turning people loose at 18, expecting them to contribute to society and figure out their own healthcare.
We were all told as children to respect our elders, and obviously our country does that. We provide social security and healthcare (Medicare) to the individuals that have contributed to what our country has become today. This country also needs to learn to value our children, the future contributors, by giving them every opportunity to learn and remain healthy throughout childhood.
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