(please note: for confidentiality reasons, the names of all children in this post have been changed. Also, the data can be confusing. Please include any good links in the comments to help laymen like me.)
Jess came up to my desk and informed me that Melody was laying down in the hall. Confused, I went to see why. When I saw Melody, I was immediately alarmed. Melody was grasping her shin and crying. When I asked her what happened, she mentioned that someone accidentally kicked her in the leg instead of kicking a soccer ball. She had suffered through the pain until the end of class, but was unable to walk anymore. She really didn't want me to call the office, but I insisted. She was gone for a few days. When she returned, I asked her if the doctor said her shin was ok. "Oh, we didn't go to the doctor," she replied.
Alex developed a bacterial infection in his eye. He lived with it for three days until his pus-filled, inflamed eyelid convinced the school nurse to send him home. Bailey came to class with her index and middle finger taped with electrical tape. Nick came to class with a broken toe. Alexis had a bag of ice on an ankle so swollen, it looked like a balloon was being inflated under her skin.
Children like this should have gone to the hospital immediately but didn't. They're part of the 11% of children who don't have health insurance.
Believe it or not, the number of children who don't have health care has been reduced by 6%. Before you cheer however, consider the reason: the number of children who live in poverty has increased. Federal health care programs such as Medicaid and the woefully-underfunded SCHIP cover impoverished children. Medicaid will cover your child if your combined family resources (for a family of 3) do not exceed $1950/mo, including the cost of all resources including equity in your home. If the adults want Medicaid as well, your family income (for a family of 3) cannot exceed a crippling $164/mo including resources (stats for Alabama).
Unfortunately, with more and more families falling near or below the poverty level, resources are becoming strained. SCHIP would have helped pick up the overflow from Medicaid, as well as families with children who make between $1961 and $3500/mo. However, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have increased SCHIP funding by 35 billion dollars, instead increasing the budget by a mere 5 billion dollars, far below the amount required. In 2009, President Bush proposes to increase the SCHIP budget by 19 billion dollars over 5 years. This means that, even if SCHIP rolls explode with the economy failing, the soonest the budget could be renegotiated would be in 2013. Not only that, but he would change requirements so a family of 3 would have to make less than S3,600/mo in order for their child to qualify. With the 19 billion dollar increase, SCHIP will cover approximately 5.6 million children: an improvement from the 3.3 million currently covered, but not as much as the 7.4 milion that would have been covered had the president not vetoed the SCHIP reauthorization billin 2007.
There will be roughly 71.2 million children living in the US this year. Around 20-23 million of these children would have no access to health care unless they receive Medicaid or SCHIP support. With Medicaid and SCHIP, roughly 7.8 million children will still be left behind in terms of medical in 2012, assuming the enrollment rate never increases! That's not counting the 11.5 million children who have medical insurance for only part of the year.
And during these gawky years of middle school, when young bodies hit puberty and growth spurts cause a lack of coordination, kids get injured all too easily.
Steven came to school with a one-inch gash on his shin that continued to leak blood throughout the day. After he had leaked through 3 gauze pads, the school finally sent him home. Getting stitches for this kind of cut would cost most families several hundred dollars, a cost that most families cannot absorb.
Something needs to be done. Obama has backed away from universal health care programs like those in France and in other countries, but does promise that he will increase employer coverage of employees and to make health care affordable for all (hopefully, he will continue programs like SCHIP and Medicaid for the unfortunate families pulling in less than $164 a month). In the meantime, we need to increase the funding for these programs, so that children who have no health care are covered. No child should have to suffer because Republicans value politics over children (see December 2nd). No child should have to suffer become conservatives hate the poor.
Update: The House just passed a new SCHIP budget that will cover 4 million more children than it did before. Obama is expected to sign it into law shortly after taking office. Wahoo!