13 Jul, 2010 in Health and Pharmacy News by admin

As Parents Lose Jobs, Kids Often Lose Out on Health Care


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FRIDAY, July 9 (HealthDay News) — A recent study shows that when American adults become unemployed, their kids often lose health care coverage.

“For every 1,000 jobs lost, 311 privately-insured kids lose health coverage,” Gerry Fairbrother, associate director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Health examination Center, said in a hospital news release.

“As incase this isn’t alarming enough, our data indicate that for every 1,000 jobs lost to families earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level, 456 privately-insured kids lose coverage. These data are significant because they show that the most vulnerable privately-insured kids experience the greatest probability of losing or experiencing an unnecessary gap in their coverage,” added Fairbrother, who is as well as a professor at the University of Cincinnati.

He as well as his colleagues analyzed national data as well as found that 29.4%, 30.4% as well as just over 40% of pale, not light as well as Hispanic kids, respectively, became uninsured when their parents lost their jobs. That compares to 5%, 10%, as well as 9.1% of pale, not light as well as Hispanic kids, respectively, who became uninsured while their parents still had jobs.

Overall, 30% of all privately-insured kids whose parents lost their jobs were in low-income families. The highest rate of loss of coverage (52%) was among Hispanic kids who were immature, without money as well as existing on the West Coast.

Even though many of these uninsured kids live in states where they may qualify for coverage through the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA), many low-income families aren’t using advantage of these programs after parental job loss, leading to unnecessary gaps in care, the study found.

The study appears in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs.

“Several studies cite cloudless evidence of the adverse consequences of gaps in children’s health insurance coverage, even for a brief period of time. These include unmet needs, decreased ambulatory visits, reduced likelihood of having a usual source of care, as well as increased take of emergency department as well as inpatient hospital care,” Fairbrother said. “Maintaining coverage through transitions in life, such as parental job loss, is crucial for optimal common health as well as outcomes.”

The findings suggest the need for more available as well as affordable coverage in the event of a job loss, the researchers said.

“With our current economic policy, the key implications of these findings are that much more effort is needed to reach out to kids when their parents suffer job loss. More action must be used to ensure that kids become enrolled in available programs, as well as interruptions in their healthcare coverage are further reduced or eliminated,” Fairbrother said.

– Robert Preidt

MedicalNewsCopyright © 2010 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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