The Benefits Of The Children's Health Insurance Program

The Affordable Care Act is providing medical care at an affordable rate and can decrease extra stress and strain on families that struggle and have previously tried to meet their basic needs, let alone high medical debt. According to Medicaid.gov, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides quality medical coverage to families that can’t qualify for Medicaid or private insurance (Services, 2014). One of the major advantages of having insurance for children and teens is having the benefit of having access to vaccinations. Disease prevention is the key to a happy and healthy start. If you have healthy children, it can be a plus for their learning in school by reducing unnecessary days out of school because of illness. By providing access to medical care, it also reduces unnecessary emergency department visits.

The benefits and drawbacks of having state health programs verses one that is uniform across the country can vary on a broad basis. Medicare and Medicaid are state and federally funded health programs; programs that must be fair and allow access to everyone across the country that are enrolled and eligible to receive such benefits. In addition, these programs have unlimited caps so that there is flexibility to continue financing care without delay. The Medicare program was designed to provide access to health care for those who are not able to afford appropriate health care and meet the needs of vulnerable communities. If it were not for the assistance of the federal government in providing states the necessary funds to continue providing health

In the U.S. “Decreasing the number of uninsured is the number one goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which provides Medicaid coverage to many low-income individuals” (The Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015, Introduction section). Despite the success of the ACA enrollment of millions of people with health insurance, the most at risk and pressing group of our population is the children. This is a group that needs our attention and their health should be the country’s number one priority. This is a vast difference from Canada, where every child has health care coverage for life because of its Universal Health Care. Bodenheimer and Grumbach (2013) noted that over the years, “reformers in the United States argued for the passage of a national health insurance program, government’s guarantee that every person is insured for basic health care”(p.187). But this effort was not only defeated time and time again, but it was constantly shoved under the rug. It was not until a great effort was pushed by President Obama that we started to see some changes in our health care system. Still a lot of work needs to be done, especially for our children. Stronger measures must be implemented to make sure that every child has an opportunity to live a long and healthy life. This is especially geared towards children living in rural areas, “where access to

For those adults with children that are not eligible for Medicaid but their income is not enough for private insurance, KidsCare was an option until it froze in January 2010 due to a cost-cutting effort. KidsCare is a state sponsored insurance program for low-income families that is part of the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Arizona is currently the only state that does not have a CHIP program which forces families that were on the program to partake in the health care exchange and pay for private insurance or forgo health coverage and be uninsured (Whiteman, M., 2014). The number of children covered at the time of the program freeze went from 45,000 to about 2,000, which was a ninety-five percent drop (Whiteman, M., 2014). Governor Jan Brewer proposed to restore coverage to thousand of children through KidsCare II, where Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Maricopa Integrated Health System, and the University of Arizona Health Network would pull money together and receive extra federal funds. The federal funds that the

Latinos and Hispanics have a long history here in the United States of America. The term “Hispanic” is most often used by the government, which is what will be used through the rest of this document. Hispanics are the fastest growing group in the United States and their numbers will continue to increase as years go by. Mexicans are the largest subgroup of Hispanics making up 66% of the population while the other 34% includes Central and South Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and other Hispanic origins. California, Texas, and Florida have the highest populations of Hispanics. In regards to health insurance, Hispanics have the highest rates of uninsured in the United States.

As stipulated in the act, even those with preexisting health conditions can now access the cover without any limits by the law (Whitman, 2015). Consequently, more than 16 million Americans who previously did not have the cover now have the cover. As a result, due to the large pool, insurance premiums paid are much lower. More Americans can now afford to go for checkups hence increasing the chances for early detection of critical health conditions. New illnesses that previously did not exist are now being discovered, especially in the states that the Medicaid expanded

The potential opportunity for the state to opt into the Medicaid expansion is the fact that low-income citizens will be insured. The decision of the state to opt into the Medicaid expansion will also impact the state’s budget, and this is the main challenge (Frakt, 2013). The government will cover majority of all the cost even as Medicaid expansion provides coverage for the low-income uninsured citizens. Expansion of the Medicaid is also a broken system that has poor outcomes, not severe federal strings, high inflation and no incentive for the personal responsibility of the citizens who

As a health policy analyst for the state of Texas which has not elected to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and now has been notified that the state leaders have taking into reconsideration their recent decision during an upcoming session in order that we begin gathering data on the benefits of adapting the Medicaid expansion. As a health policy analyst our goal is to assure data quality, interpret data, and discover new information in the data. Medicaid is a federal and state partnership with shared authority that is a health insurance program for low-income individuals, children, their parents, the people with disabilities and the elderly. Nationally Medicaid covers health care for over 72 million people. Even though participation is optional, all 50 states participate in the Medicaid program. However, Medicaid benefits eligibility varies widely among the states all states must meet federal minimum requirements, but they have options for expanding Medicaid beyond the minimum federal guideline (http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/affordable-care-act-expansion.aspx). In this research we will identify the state of interest which is Texas, compare the state’s decision, determine the alternate approaches to expanding access and provide a recommendation on whether or not the state should opt in to the Medicaid expansion.

The Effect of the Extension of Dependent Coverage under the Affordable Care Act of 2010

Together, the two programs have significantly reduced the uninsured rate among children, provided coverage safety-net during economic recessions and slowdowns when families have lost their job, have better access to specialist and dental care, and offer benefits beyond improved health (Paradise, 2014). Overall CHIP has been an effective program and helped reduce disparities in health coverage and care (Paradise, 2014).

In Ohio, the financial aspects of ACA implementation are numerous. A large amount of Ohioans received an average tax credit of $244 per month while about half that number, 41% of enrollees, were able to secure insurance for $100 or less (United States of America, 2015). One million dollars was received in research grants for Marketplace innovation and improvement and funds that were originally spent on salaries and marketing were diverted to care improvement through the 80/20 rule (United States of America, 2015). Large amounts of funds were made available to combat premium increases which have saved approximately one billion dollars nationally (United States of America, 2015). Over $217 million has been made available for primary care services in community health settings with an additional $33 million ear marked for prevention and public health needs (United States of America, 2015). I believe this feature will have the greatest impact on health in Ohio. Increased funding for community projects naturally leads to increased preventative measures and decreased health care costs overall. Close to $235 million was saved in prescription costs by those enrolled in Ohio Medicare through the closure of the medication coverage gap (United States of America, 2015). This results in an average saving of $980 per

Medicaid initially established that each state is responsible for designing their medical costs to pay medical care for the poor. Also, Medicaid created as a voluntary program for each state; they have to have the choice to participate. For one thing, because of the rising costs of healthcare, it has been difficult to bring Medicaid recipients into the “mainstream” of United States (U.S.) medical care. Donald R. Barr notes, “between 1975 and 1989, the cost of the Medicaid program increased by an average of 11.9 percent per year before adjusting for inflation” (172). The rising costs of healthcare are necessary for each state to determine if it is beneficial for them to participate in the Medicaid program. As the government level of payment is determined by each state economic condition. For instance, a state with lower per capita income will receive more government funding. A state with higher per capita income receives less reimbursement for program costs. Therefore, on December 31, 2010, many states continued to experience budget cuts. As a result on August 2010, Congress increased reimbursement rates through June 2011.

Newly eligible beneficiaries, those under 21, and the medically frail have been provided NEMT services as a result (“Medicaid Expansion in Iowa”, 2015).

SCHIP stands for State’s Children Health Insurance Program introduced in January 24, 1997. The bill is part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 which was signed by President William Clinton in August 5, 1997 and became a public law1. The bill allows the States to designate the fund given by the federal government to families that qualifies under certain conditions. However, in September 7, 1997 it received a disapproval bill originating from the House. And in 2007, during the 110th Congressional session, the House introduced the State’s Children Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, H.R. 3963. The bill is introduced by the House Representative John D. Dingell and was placed under House Calendar No. 141 with one general

The Benefits of the Affordable Care Act to Our People and Our Health Care System