Sociology

Sociology

Children's health and insurance has been a current topic in the news, both at state and federal levels. State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been under scrutiny by lawmakers and government representatives particularly now as funding is an issue. In a review of preventive care for children, it is apparent that many children are not receiving preventive care that is needed (Chung et al., 2006). Many states have expanded eligibility for, and simplified access to, the children's Medicaid program. This has helped shrink the number of uninsured children from 6.9 million in 2008 to 5.9 million in 2010. Experts say the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care overhaul that requires states to maintain income eligibility levels and discourages other barriers to coverage, has played a key role in the improvement. Overall, 34 states had a significant decrease in the rate of uninsured children. Florida made the most progress, dropping from 667,758 to 506,934 during that time period, although the state still has one of the highest rates of uninsured children in the nation. Minnesota, Kansas and Wisconsin saw an increase in the number of uninsured children. Nevada has the highest rate of uninsured children while Massachusetts has the lowest, according to the report. The findings are based on an analysis of new health insurance data from the Census Bureau. It was done by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute's Center for Children and Families. The news comes as the number of uninsured adults has risen in the past few years. High unemployment rates and the increasing cost of private insurance are driving more families to the federal-state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs, also known as CHIP. Both programs provide health insurance for children, but come from different funding streams and allow states more flexibility in how they run their programs. President Barack Obama signed an extension of CHIP and provided $87 billion to help states pay for Medicaid in the 2009 economic stimulus, and experts say a bipartisan national commitment aimed at covering children has given states new tools and incentives to follow through. For example, some states once required face-to-face interviews; now many states have online applications.

The authors identified that their objective “was to examine the academic literature covering the quality of childhood preventive care and to identify barriers to poor or disparate quality” (Chung et al., 2006, 491). The objective was clearly determined in the abstract ...