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eLearning Series:
Your Most Popular Insurance Questions
Answers For Health and Home
Insurance
( 50 articles
in this series )
State Funded
Health Insurance: For Children
Health care is one of those services that
everyone needs, especially children. Yet, like in many other
countries, the United States does not provide either federal
or state blanket medical coverage for children.
For a lot of parents, the answer is individual or job-based
health care insurance coverage. Unfortunately, many of these
plans aren’t as comprehensive as people might think, and your
child may not be covered. If that is the case, you will have
to increase your coverage or look to state-funded health insurance,
which can provide medical insurance security for children of
working families – those who may earn too much income to qualify
for Medicaid assistance but not enough to realistically handle
medical care or even ongoing private insurance.
Medicaid
is a federally-funded program aimed at assisting low-income
families get the medical attention they need. Medicaid-insured
families may also receive access to discounted prescription
drugs.
Each state has its own version of Medicaid delivery. There
are many Internet resources available to guide you through
the intricacies of Medicaid in your state, or you can call
your local Medicaid office or your state representative’s office
for more information.
Ask how much income you can earn before being disqualified
from Medicaid coverage, and what the guidelines are for determining
income for Medicaid assessment and qualification purposes.
Figures
from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
indicate that while a higher percentage of children are now
enrolled in Medicaid insurance programs (nearly 20 percent,
up from under 16 percent in the late 1980s), the percentage
of children who have no health insurance coverage at all has
also jumped from 13.1 percent to 15.4 percent. The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services website suggests fewer
children being eligible for coverage under company-sponsored
plans is behind a large part of the increase.
The
State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, was
created in 1997 so that each state could provide medical health
insurance to children under the age of 19 who are not otherwise
covered under a health care insurance plan. State Children’s
Health Insurance Program guidelines and eligibility vary widely
from state to state, so you will have to find out the specifications
for where you live, but generally children under the age of
19, who are part of a family with an annual income of up to
$36,200 per year are eligible for services such as physician
visits, hospitalization, immunizations, prescriptions, and
emergency room treatment. For children who qualify, there is
no cost or only a nominal fee for these services. Again, depending
on in which state you live, coverage may also extend to eye
care, dental care and medical equipment.
Literally millions of children are covered by SCHIP every
year, but there are millions of others who do not have health
care insurance. Uninsured children are unlikely to
receive adequate medical attention, which can be cost prohibitive,
leaving them at risk for serious illness and health conditions.
Children
of immigrant or alien families are among those kids
who are often lacking medical insurance thanks to fears that
an individual’s or a family’s immigration status will be adversely
affected if their children are enrolled in Medicaid or State
Children’s Health Insurance. The only case in which immigration
officials consider a child’s participation in a government-funded
health care program is if the child requires long-term care,
such as in a mental health facility or nursing home. There
may be certain limitations on some services, such as long-term
care, but for the most part, using government insurance to
protect the health of their children is risk-free for immigrants
hoping to obtain a green card.
Regardless of your
financial or other status, it is vital that children receive
proper medical attention from the time
they are born until they are old enough to look after their
own needs. This includes responsive medical care such as treatment
of illness, disease and trauma, as well as regular preventative
care such as vaccinations, checkups and nutritional monitoring.
It has become a cliché, but children really are the
future, and with proper medical care and attention now, that
future can be one with a lot of healthy people who create far
less strain on American’s already burdened healthcare system.
Think of health insurance for children as an investment in
the future.
Click here to to view health insurance quotes, compare plans side-by-side and apply for the most affordable health insurance within your budget. I did this myself (June 17, 2011) to change my health insurance policy. Saved me $84 per month (or $1,008 per year). It's my SolveYourProblem recommendation.
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by SolveYourProblem.com : 2005
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