Parenting Teens

The issue of health care for children affects teens, as well as younger children. Governors from several states representing both parties are opposing President Bush’s budget for a health care program which insures the children of the working poor. The President’s budget will not provide adequate funding for these programs which provide insurance for 6 million people, mostly children. The program covers uninsured children whose families earn too much for them to covered under Medicaid.

Fourteen states, including New Jersey and Georgia are expected to run out of money for the program before the next budget year begins in October. Both as a parent and as a former social worker, I know how vital it is that this program remains in place. At the time I was in college, my daughter was insured under this program in the state of Georgia. It was a godsend.

Without it, all of her doctor’s visits would have been to the emergency room, where the bill would have gone unpaid. Despite the fact that I was working (and earning just about five dollars a month too much for her to qualify for Medicaid!), my job did not provide insurance to cover her. I could not afford to pay the premiums for private insurance. Her biological father could not be found to provide insurance for her. Had it not been for this program, which is called PeachCare in Georgia, my daughter’s health could have been severely affected. My PeachCare premium for my daughter was $7.00 per month. It was affordable and covered dental care, vision care, and mental health care, as well as medical.

Later, as a social worker, I saw many families in the same boat. PeachCare was the only thing saving their children from either going without medical care or running up hospital bills which they could not pay. This program is vital. We have done much to provide insurance coverage for children over the past few years. Let’s not go backward and leave these children without care now.

Additionally, it makes no fiscal sense to underfund these programs. Are we trying to save money? This will not do it. Just as would have been the case with my daughter, parents without medical coverage for their children will end up taking them to hospital emergency rooms. The bills will be outrageous and the parents will be unable to pay them. This will result in millions of dollars in unpaid hospital bills, which will, in turn, result in a further rise in health care charges and health care premiums for those who can pay. This, in turn, will cause parents with no insurance coverage for their children to run up even larger bills when taking their children to hospital emergency rooms.

This vicious cycle has to be broken somewhere along the line. Let’s not throw away what little progress we have made in this area. Funding for these programs is definitely money well spent.

health care, children’s health care, State Children’s Health Insurance Program, SCHIP, teens, teenagers, parents, Peachcare, Georgia, New Jersey, President Bush